Battlefields Past
by red halo
Summary: Know the story of Blaze before, during, and after he became the Razgriz.
1. The Very Beginning

**Battlefields Past**

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat 5

This is my first fic. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

One year. Hard to believe that only one year ago, a war forged out of hatred ended. A war that put two of the major world's superpowers against one another. A war that neither started, nor ended by either. It was started by evil for past sins and humiliation, but was ended by a legend. By four pilots who faced the impossible, only to rise above it all in victory. But it would not have come to be if it weren't for one of these pilots. A man who before felt hardly anything, but by the end of the chaos, found peace in his soul. This is his story, from childhood to fatherhood. This is the life of he one called Blaze.

Kevin Johnson was born July 7, 1986 in the small town of Plymouth, which was located a few miles west of Oured. The only child of Andrew and Joanne Johnson, two loving parents who thought they were the luckiest people in the world. Unfortunately, that was soon far from the truth. A few days later, both Andrew and Joanne where killed by a driver who collided with theirs at high speed to escape the police. Five months earlier, Joanne's father died of a heart attack. Two years prior, her mother died after a long struggle with cancer. Andrew's father died in a war long ago, when Andrew was only four years old, and when he was twenty, his mother died in a freak train accident on her way to visit her son in college. Poor Kevin. None of his parents had any siblings, and his grandparents were never part of a large family. Kevin was the only survivor of his family. Since their were no other blood relatives alive anymore, little Kevin was placed in the care of an old friend of the family, a Miss Katie Warner.


	2. Firey Gaurdian

**Battlefields Past**

I do not own anything Ace Combat (Man am I going to hate writing that all the time.)

Chapter 2

_Ten years later… _Young Kevin is walking to school, with the same, blank, face he always has. Kevin didn't dislike school because of his lessons, but of his fellow classmates that always stare at him and gossip about his back. He never really had any friends, except a young boy around his age named Henry Lighter. Henry was really the only kid to ever really have any human contact with Kevin. Henry would invite him to play at recess and after school, but Kevin would just decline, saying he had other things to do. And every time, Henry would feel sorry for him. Kevin would head home thinking to himself why bother, nobody other than Henry every liked him and he accepted his loneliness a long time ago. But on one, late walk home; fate would intervene, forever changing Kevin's life.

Kevin was walking home, after he attended a night service at his local chapel and helped Rev. McDonald clean up the trash that was around the parking lot. He was worried that Kate would worry about him, so he quickened his pace. But after he turned the corner, Kevin felt a shove from his side that pushed him into an alley. He was ambushed by the local bullies.

Kevin fell and skidded onto the ground which wouldn't have been that bad if it hadn't been raining that night. There Kevin picked himself up all covered in muck and soaked by the puddle he fell into, and looked at his attackers ho laughed at Kevin's sudden misfortune. There were three of them, and each was bigger than he was. Kevin recognized who they were. They were thirteen year olds who had a habit of terrorizing several of his fellow classmates. Kevin was scared, but he didn't let it show. He stood tall and ready for a fight. He knew he couldn't possible win with the size and numbers advantage on their side, but Katie always taught him to stand up for himself and never back down. And that's just what he did. He knew this would hurt, but if he did some damage in return, he could be proud. But before any punches could be thrown, a sort of miracle happened.

A bolt of lightning struck the dumpster near Kevin and his would-be attackers, setting the materials inside it on fire. A fire that quickly spread throughout the entire top of the dumpster. Seeing the flames, the bullies panicked and ran away in freight, but Kevin remained just watching the flickering flames. The fire had saved him and he knew that, but he was still intrigued by it. Here was something that turned a certain ugly situation into a heroic rescue. It protected him. Kevin then heard the sound of thunder, that grew louder and louder. He looked up and saw two fighter planes flying above his head. It reminded him of the war that happened one year ago. He remembered the radio and television reports of it, and the lectures his school had about that they were all safe and this war would be over soon.

He was told that the soldiers on the battlefield were fighting to protect him and his neighbors and his friends and family from harm. And seeing those fighters fly above him and the fire, made Kevin think about himself. He had about zero friends and wasn't good at much. He knew he was good at fighting since this wasn't his first meeting with bullies, and he knew that some certain people were being terrorized, he made a life choice that moment. He decided that he would protect everyone he could, like the fighter aircraft and the flames that protected him. That he would only fight so that others wouldn't have to suffer, or fear, or be victimized. And he kept that promise.

First, he protected his fellow students from bullies and jerks. This helped earn Kevin some respect among his classmates. As he got older, he moved up to bigger things. Now, there were no street gangs in Plymouth, but there where thieves, carjackers, and usual teenage punks who caused trouble. When Kevin was fifteen, he was protecting the regular people of the town wherever he saw it. From possible robberies, to petty thievery, Kevin was there to right those wrongs and kick some ass. Throughout the rest of his years at school, he was earning a reputation across the entire town of being a sort of vigilante. He received more respect from his classmates and other people in his town, but he still kept that emotionless face. Inside, he felt a little bit happier, a little more open. He started communicating with others more often and formed relationships with others in town, like Mr. Hatcher the mailman, Mrs. Cameron the grocery store owner, and Rev. McDonald of the church. The years did get a little easier for Kevin when it came to the citizens of Plymouth. But he still felt like a loner, and remained to himself most of the time.

Over the next eight years of his life, only two things made Kevin seem at least a little like a human. One was his guitar, that he practiced and played for many hours a week, and became pretty good at it. The second was the church that he visited every Sunday afterwards. There, he could be seen in silent prayer, eyes closed, ands folded, deep in thought. In his prayers, he prayed to be strong and to protect all. A prayer that God always heard.

Here's Chapter 2. Chapter 3 is shorter, but it goes into the two things tat made Blaze human. I hope you enjoyed.


	3. Of Music and Angels

Chapter 3

I do not own Ace Combat 5

One day later… Kevin returned home from school that Friday around the usually time as always. Katie was still at work and wouldn't be back till a little bit later. So Kevin went upstairs, closed himself in his bedroom with the sound of strings being played.

Now Kevin has only been practicing for three months. He first fell in love with the instrument at a celebration in Plymouth Park. At this event, people played games, feasted on barbeque, and enjoyed the music of entertainers. But what really got Kevin's attention was the guitarist who played a solo during the show. He was just amazed by the melody and the speed of the player's fingers. After the performance, and the celebration, all Kevin could think about was the sound of the beautiful guitar.

"Some day, I'll be able to play like that."

The day after the party, Kevin told Katie of his desire to play. This came as a bit of a shock for Kate, since Kevin had hardly any personal interest in anything. Before, Kevin would read, or play with his toys, or do his chores around the house. Katie couldn't believe how many things the young boy wanted to do to keep everything. He would mow the lawn, clean the dishes and windows, take out the trash, ect. It just seemed like too much for such a young child, but on hearing about a guitar, Katie could only be overjoyed.

"Finally Kevin was coming out of his shell. He's taking his first steps into the open world." thought Kate. She then remembered the old guitar in the basement. The one that had been kept down in there for nearly ten years. It was Andrew's old guitar, it belonged to Kevin's father. She could remember Andrew sitting on his roof, just playing whatever cords that came into his mind. Katie planned on passing it along to Kevin when he was a little bit older, but thought that this was a good a time as ever. Katie showed Kevin his fathers own heirloom and smiled heartily as she saw how his eyes then sparkled in surprise.

"This is a big step in growing up. You know that right?"

"I do."

"Your father had this since he was in high school. He loved this thing almost as much as he loved you and your mother. How he must be smiling up in Heaven right now. I know he would be proud of you to take this."

Kevin just stared with tears forming in his eyes.

"Thank you dad." Was all he could say.

A Mr. Victor Yan agreed to be Kevin's guitar teacher the day after he received his prized gift. Now the thing was kind of big for Kevin and Victor thought that he would have a problem with his practicing. But he was surprised when he saw how quickly Kevin adjusted and how fast he learned. It was as if he inherited his old mans talent. Everyday Kevin showed greater improvement and eventually started thinking about coming up with songs of his own. But for now, he still has to get the rhythm and tempo going. But Kevin thought that it shouldn't take him long to get the basics down. For three months, the house of Katie Warner was filled with sound. At first, it was the sound of just one string at a time, but now it was smoother and more pleasing to the ear. But it was still a ways from perfect.

At around the same time, Kevin was getting more involved in his local church. He was reading his Bible often at home and in the church building on Sundays. He read the Good Book like a scholar, completely focused to the pages. Kevin would read the countless stories from the works of Creation, to the stories relating to the end of the world. His favorite stories where those of Angels and God protecting the prophets from harm and danger. Those tales were just fascinating to him. That one could be in a hopeless situation, with no escape in sight, to all of a sudden be saved by some supernatural force.

Kevin also had regular conversations with Rev. McDonald. He would ask him questions and volunteer around the church and help out with the organized events. But on one occasion, Kevin was pondering about something. Something about the servants of God.

"Reverend, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course my boy. Please step into my private office."

"Reverend, what exactly are angels and what do they do? I've seen the pictures of people with wings, but that's not enough for me."

"Well, the Bible only gives us a limited picture on angels. It does mention them as beings with bird-like wings a as shinning men, for they glowed like the Holy Spirit." The Reverend then had a thought and asked "But did you know, Kevin, that there is a second group of angels?"

"No sir."

"They are demons. The devil himself was an angel and went up against the Lord, and took one-third of the angels with him."

"I never really read about that. Those types of things always made me feel un comfortable."

This actually scared Kevin a bit. It made his eyebrows go a little higher, and his forehead would sweat a bit. Rev McDonald noticed this and tried to steer the subject to a less feared topic.

"That is understandable. Demons have been symbolized as evil beings in both Scripture and in human legend. One legend that I am very familiar with is the Legend of the Razgriz. A demon that awoke when history was changing and it would rain death upon the land. It would then die, but return again as a hero. Though that creature is just myth, a story to scare children with eons ago. It still does to this day."

"I never heard of that myth before."

"Strange that you would say that. A lot of people have heard of it. Well that's nothing to be afraid of since it doesn't exist."

Kevin felt a little easier at this point, but there was still fear in him. But that was extinguished after the following by McDonald.

"God loves you Kevin, and He always protects you. That is why He sent His Son, Jesus, down to earth and die on the cross. Are you familiar with that story?"

"Yes. I have read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."

"Excellent! I know God will continue to shed His grace upon you and guide you accordingly to His plan. Know as for the duties of angels, they do a number of things. They are messengers, assistants in the Lord's government, and protectors of the Throne and people. That's been their job since the beginning of time."

"I like that last duty the best. The protecting part."

"Why is that?"

"No one should have to be afraid. I know that there are a lot of bad people in the world, and many can't protect themselves against them. They need to be protected. If someone doesn't, who will?"

"God is watching over everyone, and He would never allow such horrible events to happen that are against His Will. That is a duty of an angel."

Kevin just sat there for a minute, collecting his thoughts. McDonald was about to ask if he was okay, when Kevin jumped out of the chair and said "Thank you Reverend. I really needed that."

McDonald then smiled and replied "Go with God my Son." And Kevin left the office and the building and headed back home.

On that day, Kevin accepted God and Jesus into his life and became a Christian. He decided that he would live better for the Lord and prayed even harder that he could protect others and to keep everyone safe.

I know that there hasn't been much action going on, but I promise it would get better. The next chapter is about when he decides to enter the military. The chapter after will describe his experience in the academy, and I promise I will make that more interesting. Blaze will beat the living tar out of someone in that chapter.

Seraph 8, Thanks for reviewing.


	4. Alone Again?

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat

_7 years later…_ Kevin Johnson, 17, is at the Charles Winstrom Public Library. It is here that he should be researching for his literature report on famous legends. But instead, Kevin is pulling any book off the shelves that has to do with fighter aircraft. It was two weeks earlier that he saw three F-14's flying over his town practicing maneuvers. Kevin was just fascinated by them. Their speed, agility, and formation, captivated him. He saw them after a fight with two street punks, who tried to rob Katie's purse. He chased them down an alley, and caught up to them as they were attempting to climb over a caged fence. Kevin grabbed both their ankles and pulled both boys to the ground. As one was getting to his feet, Kevin uppercut him, sending the poor punk crashing into the wall. As Kevin turns to face his other opponent, he is met with a fist to his face, causing a purple bruise to appear on his face. Kevin recollected himself, and sent a punch of his own into the guys stomach. Next, he grabbed a trash can lid on the floor, and started bashing the two delinquents with it. This continued for about another minute, until both boys decided that staying was suicide, so they took off running down the same alley from which they entered. As the two cowards ran with their tails between their legs, Kevin threw the trash can lid like a frisbee, knocking down one of the boys. It wasn't until after he picked up Katie's purse did he notice the roaring sound. The same sound he heard seven years ago in that fiery alley. He looked up and saw the three tomcats flying in perfect formation. He then thought to himself, "They can protect a hell of a lot better than I can. Maybe… Maybe I should think about joining the military. What am I thinking? Everyone's been telling me I should keep playing football. That it will land me into college, and possibly get me into the pros. I don't know. What should I do Lord?" Kevin then stood there for a moment and waited. "I'm sure you'll give me an answer later."

But as the days passed on, Kevin thought of those fighter jets more and more. That's why he was at the library, reading about jets instead of working on his report. He read about the history of the air force and their roles in previous wars. About witness and pilot accounts on some famous dogfights. About the usage of certain fighter and attacker aircraft. Kevin just ate all this up. It was two days before the deadline of his literature report and Kevin hasn't even gotten started. He realized this and put the books away disappointingly. He wanted to continue reading them, but knew he could procrastinate any longer. He then took out his book on the Razgriz demon and began writing his report, he knew that the faster he got this done, the faster he can get to reading his favorite books again. Two days later, after two sleepless nights and a numbed right hand, he finished his report and turned it in. Three weeks later, he got his report back with a big, red B+ on it. Kevin was happy with, though he could barely remember what he said in it. All he could remember was the words, _when history witnesses a great change, Razgriz reveals itself_._ First as a dark demon. As a demon, it rains death upon the land, and then it dies. After a period of slumber, Razgriz returns. This time, as a great hero._

Kevin was more than just a self-promoted vigilante of Plymouth. He was also a stand-out running back at Lincoln Watters High School. He joined the team because both Katie and Henry begged him too, so to please them, Kevin signed up and made the team as a running back. When he was given a slip for his uniform, Kevin didn't know or care what number he was given. He just wrote down the first number that came into his head. That number was sixteen.

For Kevin's freshman year, he never got any playing time. He was only second string after all and played back-up for Quentin Hews. Quentin was a senior who played his position for all four years in high school and held the school record for most all time rushing yards when he graduated. At the graduation ceremony, Quentin was given a special honorary award and had his number, 38, retired. He also received a football scholarship at Greendale University. But when Quentin left the holed grounds of Lincoln Watters High School forever, Kevin took his place and left a legacy of his own.

In Kevin's sophomore year, he proved to be a force to be reckoned with. He was no Quentin Hews, but he was a better than average back. Henry Lighter, Kevin's long-time associate, made the team along with Kevin as a second string quarterback and finally made it t a starter in his junior year. When he first got his uniform, Henry was so stoked because he would be wearing number five. He was stoked because it was the same number as Michael Veybacke, the starting quarterback of the Ribbon City Pirates, and was a future hall of famer. In Henry's and Kevin's junior year, they both played on the same field at the same time, with Henry as the quarterback and Kevin as the running back.

_1 year later… _Its late in the high school football season. Kevin is debating with himself over whether to join the air force academy or go into college the same way as Quentin and get a degree. But that would have to wait because now, the Lincoln Watters Eagles where in the league championship game, the biggest and last game of the year.

It's the fourth quarter. Ten seconds left. No timeouts left. The Eagles are down by three and are on the Bulls seven yard line. And the coach is going for the win. He decides to call YZ 32 right wing, or a handoff to Kevin to run up the right side. The offense is in the huddle getting the play.

"Coach is calling YZ 32 right wing. You ready for it Kevin" asked Henry.

Kevin was tired, hurt, and was bleeding from his mouth. He spit out some blood onto the grass and said "Give me the ball."

"That's the sun of the gun that got us here. Okay, you guys know what to do. I want to see a whole bunch of bodies in Bulls uniforms all over the gridiron. Let's make it happen."

The team clapped and broke the huddle. They got into the I formation. Henry was behind the center, setting up. Kevin was standing behind his fullback, Tommy Kirkland. He just stood there looking at the opposing defense. Preparing in his mind what will happen in the next few seconds. Henry called hike and received the snap. The offensive line hit the nearest body wearing red; Kevin started his run and received the hand off from Henry. He then stayed behind Tommy's number 41 as he hit the hole. Tommy went to his left and dived down, knocking down two Bulls players. Kevin ran end zone right in front of him. He was at the five, the four, the two. All of a sudden a Bull safety went for a hit on Kevin. Kevin braced for impact, they collided. The safety's helmet hit him straight in the stomach; Kevin took the impact and made a sort of spin move to the left. His arm stretched out, the second safety met him, hitting him in the stomach like the other one, helmet first. The force knocked Kevin back, his arm still stretched out. He falls. The ball is 2 centimeters away from the goal line. Time runs out No touchdown. Complains from Kevin's teammates about dirty hits. The refs say they never say it. Game over. Final score, Bulls 24 Eagles 21. Kevin is still on the ground. Henry kneels next to him, placing his hand on his shoulder. His mouth opened to speak, but Kevin knew what was going to come out. It was a dirty hit and the refs never called it. He knew they lost by less than an inch. All Kevin wanted to do was lay there and not get up ever. He is then picked up by Henry and another teammate as they head back to the locker rooms. Kevin escaped their grasp and walked back to the lockers by his own power. Henry and the other guy understood. Kevin didn't want anyone to think that he was hurt. He walked back as if he was alright, but the truth was, he felt like hell.

_1 month later._ Kevin made his decision; he was going to the Air Force Academy. He sent in his registration forms and some footage of his games. The footage was Henry's idea. He said that it is to show off his athleticism and maybe get a scholarship to make the academy a little more fun. As for Henry, he did the same to the Army Academy. Both thought that they were best for military service, to keep peace throughout the world. Kevin was actually surprised, yet proud of the choice Henry made. But later on, Kevin's past would catch up with him.

_3 months later…_ Kevin returned home from school around the same time he always had. He was heading up to his room to play his guitar when the phone rang. It was a person from Katie's work. He told Kevin that Katie wanted to see him and that he should go to the hospital immediately. Kevin was horrified. He hung up the phone, ran into his car, and went straight to St. Francis Hospital as fast as he could. When he arrived, a nurse told him where to find his adopted mother.

When he entered her room, Katie was laying there in a bed with all sorts of tubes in her. Kevin broke his emotionless face upon the sight of her. He ran in and sat in a chair next to her.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Asked a shocked teenager.

Katie just smiled at him and held his hand. Then in her sweetest voice she spoke. "Kevin. I'm afraid my time with you is short. Soon… I won't be here anymore."

"No no no no. You're going to be okay. You'll be all better before you know it. And when we get home, I'll get you your favorite cake from Mystic's…"

"I'm sorry my child. I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I was afraid that you would worry about me…. Before I go, please make me this promise." Said Katie through some horrible sounding coughs.

"Anything Kate. Anything." Said Kevin in a sad voice. The first time Katei ever heard Kevin talk like that.

"Promise me, to always remain pure. To always stay kind. I know you never quite opened up to anyone or even me, but I know you have a lot of feelings inside of you waiting to come out. I know someday that you will. I'll always be watching you, just like your parents. I love you Kevin, like any mother would for her child." Replied Katie with tears falling down her cheeks like a waterfall.

"I love you too. And I promise. I promise you Katie." Said Kevin, crying. He then hugged Katie and never let go. He was still embracing here when she took her last breath and died. Kevin was heartbroken. Another family member has now passed away, and once again he was alone. Kevin later found out that Kate was very sick for the past few weeks. There was no medicine, no cure. She didn't want to worry him; she felt that he shouldn't have to fear losing another mother. She knew that it was a little selfish to do this, but she thought it was the best. Kevin was taken home by the guy who called him, for Kevin was in no condition to drive. He went straight to his room and cried his eyes out. This was the first time he ever cried out of sadness, it hurt, it hurt a lot. He later fell asleep; his pillow soaked in is tears, dreaming about Katie when she was alive.

The next morning, Kevin woke up with much rattling at his door. He walked downstairs still with the aching pain. When he answered the door, he couldn't believe his eyes. Dozens of people where standing around his lawn. There was Miss Bellamy, the owner of the baker, Mystic's. There was his literature teacher, Mr. Fairchild. There was also the local mailman, Mr. Hatcher and Mrs. Cameron who owned the market. There was also Henry, Kevin's football coach, all his teammates, and dozens of other locals who have been protected by Kevin or where friends of Katie. Mr. Hatcher was the one ringing the doorbell. When he saw Kevin in his state, he said, "I know yesterday was tough for you Kevin. We all have been affected by Katie's sudden passing. You have are deepest condolences. But we come here to also bring you some good news. You received a letter from the Air Force. And... You're in. They want you to come and play for them. But we also came to give you this. It's not much but it's the least that we can do for you." Some of the people moved aside, revealing a beautiful motorcycle. Rev McDonald then said "We all know that wanted on of these for a while now and it is the least we can do for you for all you've done for us over the years. This way, you can show up at the academy in style. It works the same as your motorbike, so there should be no difficulty."

Mr. Hatcher then said "We also got you this." He handed Kevin an envelope containing a plane ticket to Mirramack where the academy was. "We also got pulled together this." And he handed another envelope to him containing a few thousand dollars.

Kevin could only stand there in awe with everything all he could manage to say was "Thank you. All of you." He said this with more tears falling down his face. Kevin felt better, or at least a little bit. He knew that this must be part of God's plan for him. He then thought, "Katie thanks for everything. You'll always be with me, along with my parents and God. I'll worker harder, harder then I ever have before. I'll be a pilot and I will do everything in my power to protect. I'll also work harder to fulfill my promise to remain kind and open up more." The rest of the day Kevin remained in his home, playing on his guitar and working on a new song.

A few weeks later, Katie's funeral was at the local cemetery. Almost the entire town showed up and Kevin gave a speech about the all the good she has done for him and others. For the remainder of the school year, Kevin was down inside. He kept his normal expression of no feeling, but was still pained by Katie's death. His world was turned upside down. The house felt empty, like all life has been drained from it. Kevin found it hard to concentrate on his studies and his grades did slip a bit. Henry mostly gave Kevin his privacy, but showed up to the house once in a while to check on him. He would invite Kevin over for dinner each week, at first expecting him to decline. But Kevin never did. In truth, he was thankful for Henry's kindness and looked to him as more of a better friend than he would have originally allowed. Henry's parents always thought of Kevin as being a bit crazy and antisocial. But after Kate's untimely death, they warmed up to him. It was hard to not like somebody who the entire town was starting to admire.

Finally, the school year ended, and to Kevin's surprise, he was able to maintain his 3.2 GPA. It was probably because the teachers gave him some slack for his sudden loss, which made Kevin feel a little uneasy. At graduation, when Kevin got his diploma, almost the entire audience applauded for him since the people who came to Katie's funeral, also came for Kevin's honor. It made him feel better, even if it was for one moment. After the ceremony, Kevin just went back home. There was supposed to be a big party at one of the graduate's houses for everyone, but Kevin declined. Parties never interested him. He pulled up his driveway and opened the front door and almost jumped out of his skin.

He was met with a huge shouting of surprise from the living room. Kevin couldn't believe it. Everyone was here, including Henry and his parents and sister. Henry was the mastermind in all this, since he knew Kevin would of gone straight home, skipping the celebration for the graduates. All Kevin could do was smile and try to enjoy himself, and he did. For the first time in his life, Kevin really enjoyed himself in company. He mingled, he laughed, and he even played for the guests on his guitar. Life was good for Kevin, for at least one night anyway. After the festivities, he went to bed and slept easily and forgot his troubles. He forgot his painful past.

The next two months were for summer break and preparation for his trip. When the day before the trip arrived, he had all his things ready to go in one large luggage bag. He tried to pack lightly. Only bringing some basic clothes, jacket, his guitar, and few meager items. But he would never think of leaving without two pictures. One was a picture of his parents and himself as a baby. His mother was holding him and smiling while his dad put one arm around his wife. The other photo was of him and Katie a couple of months ago, on their Christmas vacation to Black Bear Mountain. These where now his two most precious treasures, even more valuable than his guitar or motorcycle. As for his cycle, he didn't know how he could of brought it with him, but Rev. McDonald was able to talk the airlines in having his bike flown in a special cargo bay on the plane.

On the day of his departure, everyone showed up to wish Kevin a safe trip. While on the plane taking off, he waved at his home town and all who reside in it. They were the best of people there, and Kevin would always remember that.

I just want to point out that this took me **_over three hours to write._**


	5. Higher Education and a Beer Brawl

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (Urge to kill rising).

Kevin's plane lands at the Mirramack airport after his five hour flight. He is leaving the hallway and entering the main lobby of the airport, one hand on his luggage bag while the other was clenching his guitar case, when he spots the information desk. He calmly walks over asking the clerk about his bike and if it can still be delivered to the academy. The lady punched in some keys and entered Kevin's name into the computer. After more punching of keys, the woman told him that one of the academy's service vehicles will come later and pick it up along with some other cargo. After leaving the counter, he sees a man in uniform holding a sign saying "Air Force Academy Recruits." Kevin walks over and shows the acceptance form to the officer, confirming that he is a recruit. The officer points Kevin over to the exit where the buses were to take them to the campus. He walks through the exit doors to find a number silver buses sitting at the curb with other officers at the buses entrance doors. Each bus had dark blue writing on the side saying "Air Force Academy" with four F-14's flying in the diamond formation in the background. Kevin once again shows his acceptance form to one of the awaiting officers, placed his stuff in the open baggage compartment inside the bus, and entered the vehicle.

When he got on, there were already a number of people sitting and engaging each other in conversation. Fortunately there were some open seats still available and nobody appeared to have noticed that he even stepped on, and that was alright with him. Kevin went into the fifth row and plopped himself onto the window seat on the left side of the bus. He just sat there, relaxing, thinking to himself about what he was in for. About five minutes went by until Kevin's train of thought was interrupted by a voice asking if this seat was taken. Kevin looked up and saw a young woman at about his age standing there. She was about two inches taller than he was, with a thin body, long, red hair, dressed in jeans and a green T-shirt with the picture of a smiley face on it. Kevin replied that it was free, which prompted the woman to sit in the seat next to him. A few more minutes past and the new girl decided to break the silence between them.

"The name's Nancy West. What's yours?"

"Kevin Johnson." replied Kevin.

"Where are you from? I'm from Green River Falls. It's somewhere in the southern part of the country."

"I'm from Plymouth. It's just west of Oured."

"So why are…"

But she never finished her sentence because a few more loud recruits just walked onto the bus, filling the rest of the seats. The doors closed and the bus started to move. Kevin really didn't want to talk to anyone right now since he was so tired from the flight, but fortunately, Nancy was talking to some nineteen year old boy sitting across from her. Kevin then closed his eyes, and fell to sleep and slept the whole way to the campus grounds.

He was later awoken by his head crashing into the window by the bumps the bus was hitting. They were just inside the academy, passing a number of large buildings. The bus then made a turn and stopped in front of what appeared to be the dorm buildings, and on the lawns surrounding the dorms, was a number of people near their bags, waiting. They were the new recruits who arrived before them. The bus opened its doors and everyone got off one at a time, in single file. Another officer was waiting for them there, ordering them to take their belongings and form a single line behind the other grunts. They collected their luggage and went on the grass in a nice line like they were told. Kevin just stood there with his bag on the ground and holding his guitar case. Sometime later, more buses showed up, dumping their loads of new recruits onto the campus with more the same nervous faces.

This continued for another half hour when after one bus let its last passengers off, Kevin overheard the driver tell one of the officers that this was the last of them. After the newbie's fell into their line, a large officer came out of the dorm doors with a sense of authority coming out of him. He walked over onto the grass, in front of all the recruits and stopped in the middle. Kevin could sense that this was a man he shouldn't tick off no matter what. The officer introduced himself as Captain Tyson Bradford. He was the commanding officer of their class and for the next four years, our asses were his property, so we better get use to it. He then commanded them to form two, single file lines in front of the doors and state their name to the officers who would give them their room keys and information. And sure enough, right there by the doors, stood two more officers, each standing near a table with a rather thick book on each table. There was then silence, not a sound was made until Captain Bradford yelled at them to get a move on, which every recruit followed to a T.

It took about fifteen minutes until Kevin was at the table where the officer asked him:

"Name?"

"Kevin Johnson."

The officer flipped some pages in his book until it came to Kevin's name. In there were some papers and a tiny envelope containing his room key. Kevin's room was room C11, which was located on the third floor. Kevin arrived at his room's door after some squeezing between the hallways and climbing four flights of stairs. He found the room empty with two beds inside. He guessed his roommate hadn't arrived yet. Kevin then placed his stuff on the bed near the window and looked outside. His room had a perfect vie of the football field where he was going to do some business for each of his four years. The academy was never known for having a great team, but it did have some pretty fine players. Only one player in the history of the school ever played in the professional football league and that was Casper McCaffery, cornerback of the Oured Tigers. But it didn't matter to Kevin, he didn't really come hear to play football, he came to serve his country. The door then opened up and his roommate came into view. It was a sort of skinny guy with blond hair and glasses. He put his stuff on the one free bed and introduced himself as Victor Sweeney.

_One week later… _It was the first day of football practice. Kevin was in his navy blue practice jersey with the white number 20 on the front and back. Number 16 was not available for him to wear for good reason. The drills were pretty much the same as they were in high school, so nothing took him by surprise. All he had on his mind was whether he would be the starter or not. The talent around him wasn't all that good, so he thought he would have a decent chance at being the team's number on running back. As for his classes, they were also much like his classes in high school, just more advanced. The academy was like any other college across the country, but it offered on of the best courses on electronics and technology. Fortunately, there were a large number of different classes of the two subjects so it wasn't impossibly difficult. But all students where required to pass at least one of these classes to pass and record up to two years of service in the Osean Air Force. Kevin didn't think that this was too hard to accomplish.

After practice, Kevin showered, got dressed, and headed to the mess hall for dinner. It was at the hall, that Kevin found out why he couldn't wear his usual number 16. It was retired by a Thomas Lankey, who was a stand-out quarterback in the 1950's. Two more numbers were also retired along with number 16. They were numbers 85 and 33. Number 85 was a great wide receiver by the name of Peter Randolph in the 1970's and number 33 was none other than Casper McCaffery, a future hall of famer.

Now for the week Kevin was at the academy, he was never really that sociable. He sat at the end of the same table and finished his food quickly. After he ate, he would go up to his room and grab his guitar and, in an unusual move for him, would go outside, sit on the same bench under a tree, and play his guitar for anyone who would care to listen to him. This was how he spent his nights for the last week, his way of opening up to keep his promise to Katie, but he knew that would take a lot of time.

_A few weeks later... _Kevin is in the locker room showers, soar, knee bleeding, and a big smile on his face. The academy's first football game of the year just ended against their rival, the Hampton University Wildcats. For the first time in a long while, the Air Force Academy was undefeated for the season. The Knights won because of Kevin's efforts. Scoring three touchdowns and rushing for 137 yards in his first college game was a big way to stand out. The final score, Knights 31 Wildcats 17. After the game, Coach Freeman awarded Kevin the game ball for all his efforts. He was without a doubt, the MVP of the game. "You keep playing like that, and we might actually make a bowl game." replied Glen Davis, an offensive lineman for the Academy. Kevin didn't want to think of bowls just yet. It was only the start of the season, no reason for anyone to get cocky. Kevin always thought cockiness was a way to get set up for failure. You get so high in your own head, making it harder to see to upcoming obstacles. But still, a win always felt good.

Later that day, Kevin went into the academy library for some peace and quite. Everyone he passed by after the game kept congratulating him for his play. He thought things would be quieter inside, giving him a chance to relax and recollect his thoughts. He went over to a table that was surrounded by two couches and two chairs and planted his rear on the edge of one of the sofas. He bent over to the couch's arm, resting his head on his hand whose elbow was on the arm of the couch. He let his eyes close and started to get comfortable on the cushion. But his peace didn't last long as his quite was disturbed by a voice asking, "You are that football player right? Number 20?"

Kevin opened his eyes to spot a young women standing to his right with a notebook and pen in her arms. She was about one or two inches shorter than him, with short, brown hair, and a slim figure. Kevin didn't respond right away, too tired and soar to want to say anything at the moment. The woman plopped herself down on the other end of the coach, still looking at Kevin. At that point, Kevin thought it was rude to just sit there, silent like a ghost and responded.

"Yeah I'm that guy. Kevin Johnson."

"My name is Kei Nagase. I saw the game out there. You were amazing."

"Nothing much, just doing what I have to."

"The Academy hasn't won a season opener in seven years and all you can say is that."

"Seven years without an opening win, is that right? Well, they probably make better soldiers than football players. And second, what do you want me to do, gloat about my athleticism? I'm still feeling the pains after everything."

"This school hasn't had much to cheer about in a long time in football. I don't think they had a player like you since Casper McCaffery."

"McCaffery is just greatly gifted. Besides, I'm not planning on gong pro. I just want to complete my four years here, go take pilot training, and then be a full time soldier protecting my country. Nothing more."

Nagase thought hard for a second and then said "Same hear. I've always been fascinated by flying. To go up into the sky like a bird and see the earth in a way that only few have. The sky always seems peaceful, like it can forget about mans evils and remain blue forever."

"Aren't you in the wrong field then" said Kevin to a confused looking Kei. "After four years of studying and learning, we are going to have to learn to fly fighter aircraft. Machines built for death. The skies wont be peaceful when your going to have to shoot down enemy aircraft. It will be filled with the black smoke of flaming metal."

This put a sad face on Nagase who hated the idea of taking another life. But she had her own reasons for joining the military. Reason's that she didn't want to share with Kevin right now. She straightened up and answered "But the world is at peace now. Our only duty would be to protect our own borders from some terrorists or something. There is no war, no mindless destruction. Our newly elected president is a man of pacifism. He wouldn't want another war to break out."

This made Kevin grin and give out a sort of laugh. "You are right, we are at peace and President Harling wouldn't allow anything that would permit a major use of the military. That's one reason why the military budget has been cut so drastically. To show that Osea doesn't want anymore conflict. I just hope this lasts, I'm not a big fan of killing myself. With any luck, our missions will be as you said; to protect our borders from terrorist factions and anarchists." This brought a smile to Nagase's face.

The next four years of the academy were some of the hardest and most fulfilling for Kevin. During those four years, Kevin graduated with full honors and developed a reputation as a tough guy as well. Just ask the jerks who gave everyone a hard time and they'll tell you how hard Kevin can punch. The graduation ceremony was something Kevin didn't mind to miss. Each graduate was going to have friends and family over, and he had none. He was sure Henry had his own ceremony to attend. He didn't forget about him, during the four years, Kevin sent Henry and some of the townsfolk letters. He did mention his graduation was coming, but he didn't expect anyone to show up.

When the day of the ceremony arrived, everyone was at the front greeting their loved ones with open arms. Everyone except Kevin Johnson. He just leaned up against a tree, watching from a far. He saw Nagase huge her parents and her older sister. During the four years, Kevin and Kei occasionally ran into each other on campus and she would say hello to him. Kevin would then just say hi back and try to walk away. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about him that made her think of him. She hardly knew a thing about him, except that he was a bright student and a hell of a football player. She wasn't the only one, nobody else, not even the commanding officers knew that much about him. Only his roommate Victor really ever heard anything Kevin said. And when he did, he wasn't a whole lot. That he had a hometown friend in the army an that another good friend of his died before he was accepted into the academy. This made Kei a little sad for Kevin. At times she found herself wondering if there was something very painful that happened in his past. Whatever it was, she hoped that Kevin would find peace in himself.

Victor was already on the campus, showing his parents and his siblings around the academy. Kevin was about to leave to get a drink from the machine, when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. He turned around and saw Rev McDonald and Mr. Hatcher waving at him. They flew all the way in from Plymouth to see their own town hero. Kevin was speechless; he never expected this to happen. They greeted each other with handshakes and hugs, and then Kevin gave them the tour of the grounds. He showed him the dorms and his room, some of his classrooms, and the mess hall and gym which had a new banner on the wall. A banner in honor of the Osean Air Force Academy Knights Diamond Bowl victory over the heavily favored, Jefferton Owls. And on that banner was the games MVP, number 20, running back, Kevin Johnson.

At the ceremony, Captain Bradford made a one of the longest speeches in academy history about the hard work of the graduating class. Then some words from other officers and top honored students. Kevin wasn't one of those students. When it all finally ended, the graduates threw their hats into the air with a big hurray from them. After the celebration, the real fun began. Most of the graduates were going to this party at the convention center. Among the graduates were Kevin, Victor and Kei and their families. Victor and Kei were living it up drinking and playing some of the party games, like dump the professor. Kei did see Kevin at the party with two older men, talking while Kevin was pointing around. She came over and said hi to him like she did for the past four years. Kei and the two strangers where introduced as old friends of Kevin's and talked about some of Kevin's fights back in Plymouth. Kevin later left to get some drinks and while he was gone, Rev McDonald told Kei not to worry about him. That he has had a tough past and was devastated with the loss of Katie. That the Lord had a plan for him and that it will take shape when the time was right. This made Kei feel sadder for Kevin and hoped that McDonald was right. She left their company and returned to her family with two quick goodbyes and left. The night continued and was filled with drinking and laughter and a little concert on Kevin's guitar. Kevin had grown to become an excellent guitar player.

The night would have been a lot better if it wasn't for one certain drunk. He was a relative of one of the graduates and he obviously had too much to drink. He came over to the front of the stage, where Kevin was performing, and started heckling him.

"You suck. Play Broken Dreams."

A family member came over to settle him down "Come on Earl, your embarrassing yourself."

"It's this jackass whose embarrassing himself. He doesn't even know Broken Dreams."

Kevin came off the stage and told Earl "Hey, just step outside for a little bit. Get some air and get your head together. We don't need any of this."

"You want to step out, okay tough guy. I'll mop the floor with you." replied the drunk who was poking him in the chest.

"I don't want any trouble here. Just get some air, that will help clear..." But Kevin never finished his sentence. Earl had just punched Kevin in the face with a cheap shot.

This caused the crowd to gasp, but Kevin kept his cool and didn't react. Earl then heckled some more, calling Kevin a chump and firing another cheap shot at him. One of Earl's relatives tried to hold him back, but got shoved away. Earl was about to send another punch Kevin's way, but Kevin say it coming and moved out of the way. Causing Earl to crash through the door and end up outside with Kevin following behind.

"Oh… I thought you were a man, but you won't even hit me. You pussy." and tried to throw another punch at Kevin, who dodged it easily.

The crowd was trying to talk Earl down from fighting, but he wouldn't listen. He continued to taunt and punch. Kevin knew that talking to him would accomplish nothing, so he tried to end it the only way he knew how. He dodged another punch of Earl's and sent back a punch of his own into Earl's big, fat head. The blow was so severe that it knocked the drunk straight to the ground. But like an idiot in is alcoholic state, he got up dazed and tried to fight back. Seeing that Kevin would have to get more serious with him, he let out a fury of blows to the stomach and a final punch to the head, knocking out the poor bloke. The crowd was silent while someone checked on Earl's condition. He was beaten up good, but just knocked out for the moment.

"Just like old times huh Kevin?" asked Mr. Hatcher.

"I'm at least glad you didn't try to seriously hurt the guy." said the Reverend.

Kei and Victor just stared with stunned faces. They never saw anything like that.

Kevin then turned to one of Earl's family members and apologized for what he did and said he had no choice. Everyone then agreed that the bum just got too drunk and something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. The crowd returned inside, while a few people stayed and tried to get Earl in a car to be driven back to the hotel. The night resumed and the mess was forgotten, at least for the time.

Kevin and his company didn't return to the campus until midnight where Kevin said his goodbyes and that he was glad to see them again. All three men shook hands and the postman and reverend got into a taxi to be taken back to the hotel. Kevin went to sleep pretty easily that night, despite everything that happened. The next day was met with people packing up their stuff and heartfelt goodbyes. After Kevin packed everything, he turned to Victor and shook his hand. He also told him that they would probably meet again soon, since both decided to become pilots, and all future pilots of the academy receive training at Hierlarch air base. He also knew that he would be seeing Miss Nagase again at the base as well. He didn't know it at the time, but he was glad that there would be at least two people at the base that he knew. Kevin did know that this was just a new beginning for him. He looked up into the sky and whispered "I'm still trying. Give me strength." He knew that there were three smiling faces up there, looking down upon him.


	6. Training Wings

Chapter Six

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat (Urge to kill RISING).

_2 months later…_ Kevin is on a plane heading to Hierlarck Air Base for his fighter pilot training. He looks out the window and sees nothing but white frost. No sign of life presented itself out there. Kevin thought it was no surprise, since the base was located in South Belka, not too far from where the seven nuclear bombs exploded fifteen years ago. He had already been on the plane for a number of hours. His legs were getting stiff and his back was starting to where out the cushion on his seat. After he graduated from the academy, Kevin returned to Plymouth for a nice summer break. It felt good to be around familiar faces again, congratulating him on his success. But they weren't just honoring him, Henry had also returned from graduating the army academy and came home for some well deserved relaxation. The two talked and exchanged stories. When Kevin mentioned his acquaintances with Kei, Henry made a remark that she was his girlfriend, which made Kevin respond that he would stomp him into the ground if he didn't shut up. Henry knew that tone of voice. It was the tone that warned you to stop before trouble would happen, and he did shut his mouth. In a little over a month, Henry had to leave to receive further training at boot camp, leaving Kevin to man the fort. It wasn't until Henry left again did Kevin considered him a sort of brother.

While on the plane, Kevin failed to see hide or hair of either Nagase or Victor. He guessed that they were somewhere in the back half compartment of the plane. All the piloting graduates where required to return to the academy campus and be shuttled to the airport to be taken to the base. He just figured that they got on first and were sent somewhere to the back so as to not create any blockades. He was one of the last to enter the plane, so he had to sit near the front. The entire flight basically sucked since there was no movie, no entertainment period. They did receive a lunch, but it wasn't very good. Plus, the guy sitting next to Kevin spent the whole time reading some magazines quietly to himself. He didn't seem to have noticed Kevin in the slightest bit, and that was fine with Kevin.

Overall, their was probably about 100 graduates who decide to become fighter pilots and they were all packed into this tiny plane for God knows how many hours. Kevin thought that he had to get used to hit. After all, he will probably be sitting in a tiny cockpit for hours with hardly anything to do, but listen to his instructor babble on and on. He also thought they the military should have at least flown them first class since the flight was so long and boring, and it wasn't as if they were going to some beautiful beach for fun. But what could he do about it?

The plane finally landed on the icy runway, with a landing that was surprising smooth as it was. For a summer month, it was still pretty cold on the base. Everyone was told to keep a warm jacket with them on the plane and no one regretted doing it. Everybody was then moved to a nearby building that was heated and there was a nice, hot bowl of soup at each place of the tables. It was a warm welcome for everyone who sat down and ate the bowls hungrily. After they ate, a man in full uniform stood in the middle of the tables, ordering everyone to be silent. He then paced around the room, giving his special speech he always gave to the new meat.

"Attention now nuggets and get used to being called that. For now on that what you all are. Rookies, wet behind the ears and then some. First off I would like to congratulate all of you for making it this far. You are not here on vacation, or make snow angels, or build Frosty the damn Snowman. You are here to become our finest, our warriors in the air. To come to Osea's aid whenever she needs you. I'm not going to lie to you nuggets. The next two years are going to be two of the hardest in your lives. But if you overcome the challenges and keep your nose clean, then you just might make it. I suggest you all get a good night because tomorrow, it all begins. I wish you the best of luck gentlemen and ladies."

He then left the room and another officer started speaking. He commanded everyone to come to the table that had the first letter of their last name on it and sure enough, some of the empty tables had little signs marked a letter to another letter. Kevin got up and went to the table that had the sign F-J with seven other nuggets. He saw Kei at another table labeled K-O with ten other nuggets. She sat at the farthest end, looking out one of the windows at the dark, chilly night. An officer then came by the table and placed some envelopes on it, each with a name on the front. Kevin grabbed his and opened it up, pulling out the contents of it. All that was in there were a key and a two pieces of paper. The key was obviously to his room, B28, while one paper was a map of the base and the other contained the rules of conduct, the legal mumbo jumbo and ect. The officer that spoke earlier said that they all were to met in hangar A at O800 hours. Everyone then got up again and exited the doors.

The night was freezing as the nuggets made their way through the light snow on the ground to the housing center 50 feet from the mess hall. Before these new rookies came, there were only 79 pilots training at the base. Now that number was over twice as much despite the fact that the base was getting fewer and fewer students each year since the Belkan Conflict ended. The housing center use to hold a larger number of students, but now the extra space was being used for a large leisure lounge at the top floor with all the walls taken out. The rest of the space was used for storage of smaller items and materials.

Kevin arrived at the door of room B28 and opened it to find his roommate already inside. Though their was enough room now to give each nugget his or her own room, the base still kept them in two to a room, to sustain old military procedure and to help connect the pilots to one another. His roommate was an older man who didn't graduate with his class. He actually got here the day before from another airbase to retrieve pilot training. He spent his time at the other air base as a mechanic to help learn and understand the parts of the planes. He looked like he was in his mid to late twenty's, with sleek, black hair and a smile on his face. He was setting up a radio on the desk when Kevin walked in and when he did, the stranger greeted him. "Hey man. You must be one of those recent academy grads. I guess where roomies for the next two years so we better get use to each other. By the way I'm Alvin Davenport, but you can call me Chopper." The two shook hands and Kevin started to unpack on the other bed while Chopper was unrolling a poster of some rock band. The rest of the night was spent with Chopper going on and on about bands and crap. All Kevin could do was lay there and pretend to listen. When it started to get late, Chopper took out a cd and placed it inside his radio. Then music started to blare from the speakers, it was a rock song that Kevin never heard before. "Man I love listening to this, Face on the Coin. This always calms me down and with training starting tomorrow; we're going to need to be as relaxed as ever for what's coming ahead." Kevin just continued to lie there with the pillow over his head to drown out the noise. He was tired and wanted to sleep, and most importantly, he wanted to punch out Chopper's lights. The music finally ended and Chopper turned off the lights with a hardy "Good night" and retired to bed. Kevin finally got his peace and eventually closed his eyes and escaped to dreamland.

_The next day…_ Kevin woke up to the sound of a siren, the bases own alarm clock to get the nuggets out of bed. Both Kevin and Chopper got on their clothes and left to the mess hall for breakfast. Kevin found an empty table where he sat to eat his bacon and eggs and was then joined by his chatty roommate.

"Wonder what they have planned for us today. No one here really knows much of anything, so it wouldn't be anything too difficult." said Chopper.

"Who knows? It's only a matter of time before we get the hang of everything and we're doing the fun stuff." replied Kevin.

"You're probably right Kev, and after two years of rolling and whatnot, we'll all be assigned to our bases of operation and serve our country. Man, I can't wait."

After breakfast, all the new nuggets arrived at Hangar A, where inside was a number of desks with an envelope on each, and in the front were one of the most beautiful things Kevin ever saw. It was a fully armed F-15 Eagle sitting their like a piece of art on display. The cadets took their seats according to the names on each envelope and listened to the instructor between them and the jet fighter. It was the same man who spoke to them in the mess hall last night.

"Alright settle down nuggets. I'm sure you're all itching to sit in the cockpit of one of these babies, but before that happens, you have to learn what makes it tick. During the next couple of weeks, you will be learning the insides and outs of this machine. By the end, you all will be able to build one in your sleep. Now about your little presents sitting in front of you, their not keys to a new BMW, and their certainly not housewarming gifts. They contain your callsign, the name that you will be known by for the rest of your miserable lives. You will be referred to this name in both the air and ground, and if you don't like it, tough. Inside is also where you will be grouped. Since there is an even hundred of you, there will be five groups of twenty. You are to report to your instructor who holds the same number as your group. That is all." He then left to his right and was exiting the hangar.

Everyone then began opening their envelopes and seeing what their new names and groups were. Kevin opened his and read his paper, which mostly contained a bunch of military procedure crap which he was getting tired of reading. He got to his assigned nickname and it brought him back to past. To a night when he was ten years old, when he was walking home and was met by bullies. Of a night tat rained and thundered, and of which he was protected by a fire. A fire that inspired him to become the man that he is now. He read his name again and thought it sounded appropriate for him, that it captured the moment that changed his life. His callsign was Blaze and he liked the sound of it.

Kevin was also assigned to group five and made his way to the officer holding the number five. Kevin was glad to see some familiar faces in his group. Victor was there, with more weight added to his body. Nagase was also assigned to his group where he was met with a soft hello and smile from her. And also to Blaze's discomfort, that loudmouth Alvin was in his group as well. He really didn't know the rest of the people in his group, but it wasn't as if it really mattered. When all twenty nuggets got to their instructor, they were told to follow him into another hangar. They followed him through the cold morning air until the arrived at Hangar E, where there was another F-15 inside with twenty other desks and a TV screen. For the rest of the day, the nuggets watched a video presentation of the plane and its parts and were shown the mechanics of the jet inside. Through all this everyone was taking notes 20 pages long and fried brains. The whole lesson ended for the day and the cadets were excused for dinner.

At the mess hall, Kei asked Kevin to sit with her and Victor and catch up a little. Kevin felt a bit awkward at the question, but obliged and found a table for the three of them to eat. Victor was talking about his brother who might get into Memphis University on a football scholarship, when they were visited by Blaze's roommate. He had his usual smile on and was humming some tune.

"So are you going to introduce me Kevin or am I going to have to do the honors?"

"You two know each other?" asked Nagase.

"Yeeeah. This is my current roommate Alvin. Alvin, these are Victor Sweeny and Kei Nagase." replied Kevin.

"I said you can call me Chopper, and speaking of the name. That's my callsign so get used to calling me that."

"Wait, you actually got that as your nickname? How?" asked Kevin.

"The commander at the base who sent me here requested that they call me that. I don't think I could respond to any other moniker."

"It fists you well, but I got another name I would like to call you." whispered Blaze to himself.

"They gave me the moniker Edge. I don't even know what it means."

"Mine is Sting. Hey Kevin, what callsign did they assign you?" said Victor.

Kevin then looked right at Victor and at that moment, the lights in the wall flickered a little for a few seconds then returned to normal. "It's Blaze."

"I think it suits you well. I've seen the way you fight and play football, your like a fire that can't be put out." replied Nagase.

The rest of the evening was just harmless chitchat among the four pilots. They returned to the dorms and went up to the lounge to play some pool. Nagase and Kevin versus Chopper and Victor. Twenty dollars was on the line in that game. Money that could have been better spent for Victor and Chopper who lost after Blaze knocked in the eight ball to seal the victory. Nagase was surprised that Kevin even decided to play. She never saw him play before nor had a clue that he was good. Here was a lot she didn't know about him and he hardly knew a thing about her. For the rest of the night, the four watched sportsforum on TV until I started to get late. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm turning in for the night." said Blaze.

"That's probably a good idea. I want to keep my eyes open for these lessons for once. Good night." said Kevin. Which was met by a "good night" from both Nagase and Chopper. The four turned in and slept soundly under the clear night sky.

The next couple of weeks were basically the same. The nuggets learned about the fighters. About the engines, wing details, fuel mechanisms, ect. They then moved up to cockpit control. Learning the joystick controls, the HUD, and all the other instruments that were at their fingertips. It took a while for everyone to understand everything, everyone but Chopper who served as a mechanic, so he had a bit of a head tart on everyone. The weeks dragged on and on into the months. It had been three months since they all arrived at the base, and not one of them has even taken a plane off the ground. But all that would change sooner than they thought.

"Okay, today you're all going to do what I know you've been wanting since you got here. To take the controls and fly one of these babies." said one instructor. Behind them laid six fighter jets, three of them Hawks and the other three being F-16's. The hawks were not exactly what most of them thought they were going to fly, but at least it was better than knowing what made it stay in the air. Each nugget would be accompanied by an instructor three at a time and they would fly around for about 10-15 minutes then land and let the next person fly. It all could have gone smoother without some shaky takeoffs and landings and flying maneuvers, but nobody got killed and that was always the prize when nuggets first get their feet wet. Blaze was actually one of the better ones. Nagase was a little nervous about the controls, but overall it wasn't too bad. Victor landed way too fast and Chopper got a little too close to his instructor's plane and a building during his first flight. They kept doing this over and over for two weeks until everybody could takeoff, land, turn and keep their plane straight. They then moved on to more advanced turns, loops, rolls, ect. This obviously took more time. Then they learned and practiced weapons usage and handling. Then they started taking more up with them at a time to learn squad base maneuvers and tactics. All this took about 8 months until the base instructors felt that they were ready for the next level of their training.

The nuggets next test was live target simulated combat exercises. It was actually pretty simple; an instructor would take two nuggets into the mountains and engage in air combat with the other two instructors. There was no live ammo, but they were ordered to react as if this was a live battle (think Top Gun). At this time, the nuggets were flying with much improvement and this test was a perfect way to show what they can do. Each nugget was to pilot an F-4X while the enemy instructor were to pilot Mirage 2000's. During the exercise, Blaze, Edge, and Chopper proved to be getting better and better, but tragedy would soon strike without warning or mercy.

It was a cloudless day with no wind. A rare thing for a place like this. Victor as going up for the first time in this exercise was a little nervous. Nagase and the others assured him that he could do it and that they would have a toast at dinner for their achievement. Sting went up, unaware of the horror that he would meet. He flew up with his instructor, callsign Snake Eyes, and his wingman which was nicknamed, Magic. They spotted the bogeys on radar and tried to go after the trail plane that was piloted by instructor Dillon Matthews, callsign, Blizzard. Magic was trying to get the lock on while Sting was covering his tail. They made a sharp turn around the mountain top and that's when disaster happened. Sting was unable to control his plane. None of the instruments responded. He was going down, he couldn't brake. He reached for the ejection handle, but could get a hold of with the sudden freefall. He finally got his hands on the ring, but it was too late. The F-4X hit the ground and exploded into a ball of fire. He was killed on impact. The news didn't hit the others until the squad returned to base. Everybody was crushed. Kei found that she couldn't breathe and started to cry. Chopper couldn't find a thing to say. Blaze went into the hangar quietly until the sound of a chair hitting the wall was heard with a sudden yell. More banging was heard as Blaze was hitting the steel wall. Upon an investigation of the crash, the plane Victor flew in had a motherboard that froze due to the cold air. It disrupted the systems as Sting made the turn. The next two days were canceled for group five due to the sudden loss. The base held a little ceremony for Victor. After the two days, group five continued their training, but with less enthusiasm. It was obvious among the instructors and even Blaze.

At a meeting of the group in Hangar B, Blaze called for everybody's attention and made the following speech which took everyone by surprise. This was from the guy, who hardly ever talked, but they needed someone to shove a firecracker up their butts and this was the only thing Blaze could think of. He knew it was a bit out of his character, but it needed to be done.

"I know what's going through your minds right knows. A man was just killed in a training exercise. A man that I knew. I sat with him, eaten with him; I talked to him before he went up there. I know it's scary, that it could happen again. It could happen to you or your best friend, or even the one your sitting next to right now. Let's face it, what we have been doing for the past year is dangerous. And when we all leave here and serve duty on our respective bases, it will be just as dangerous. If we find ourselves up in that sky, in a real battle, with real bad guys, with real missiles, it's still dangerous. But why be afraid? We knew this was dangerous from the start. Now I don't know what made you to decide to do this, but for me, it was to protect. To protect the ones I care about from any harm. That's something I am willing t perform, willing to die for. We cannot let ourselves dwell on the past, if we do, we cannot press on towards the future. Victor Sweeney was a good man and I know he isn't up there in heaven, looking down at us and smiling that we all decided to give up. I'll be dammed if that's what he wants, for us to just give up. He would want us to hit the skies twice as hard as before and finish what we need to do. I came here to fly and protect, why id the rest of you come? Think about that." Blaze then returned to his seat in silence, with his words fresh in everyone's mind. This made the nuggets do a little soul-searching in them.

Finally, Kei spoke up and said "Blaze is right. We can't quit, it wouldn't be right. We can't let Victor's death be in vain."

"Yeah, if I gave up now, I wouldn't be able to look at my wife and kids in the eye again. I came here to be a pilot, not some brainless twit." said Chopper.

Both of them were impressed for how Blaze handled all this. He was the only one who seemed to keep his mind on the training after the accident. Chopper thought it was scary to see the emotionless one give such a speech and made Nagase have a whole new prospective of him. Of a man who hid his feelings away, but unleash them when he really had.

This helped give the nuggets their confidence again, and when they took the skies again, they left all fear on the ground. They all eventually passed their exercise and for the remainder of their training, they practiced this exercise over again and practiced their squadron formations to keep them sharp for their final exam. After months and months of practicing, the exam came for all the nuggets. The exam consisted of real time fighting with bogeys on the ground and air, squadron maneuvers, and fighter tactics. At the end of it all, everyone passed and was now officially part of the Osean Air Force. They were to receive immediate time off and be later contacted about their assigned bases and future fighter squadrons. It was the middle of June when their flight training officially ended and all three nuggets were looking forward to some good, well deserved R and R. The three would soon meet again, sooner than they any of them would have though and their paths would intertwine beyond anything they could have imagined.


	7. The Letter

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (Gets a hold of an axe).

_August 4, 2010… _Kevin was walking down Red Rock Ave, drinking a bottle of cold cola to stay cool on the hot summer day. He was doing one of his usual walks through town like he did when he was a teenager, fighting any punk that caused a problem on his path. It wasn't that Kevin went off looking for trouble; trouble always seemed to find him. But that was the past, now he was just out to get some fresh air and to help Mrs. Cameron with some things around her market. Kevin was glad to get out of his house, the air conditioner was broken and it wouldn't be fixed for another three days. On top of that, Mrs. Cameron hurt her back last week when she slipped in her tub and injured her vertebrae and it wouldn't be fully healed for about five months. He turned the corner and entered Mrs. Cameron's little fruit market where he was greeted with a loving welcome from Mrs. Cameron herself.

She was sitting behind the register with the AC on full blast and bins with less fruit in them then they normally had been spread all around the shop.

"Hello Kevin. I'm so glad you can help with everything. I can't do anything for awhile with my back like this, and Nick is still at summer camp and Roger is busy at the office. Are you sure you wanted to spend your day helping me here?"

"I'm sure, don't worry about it. What do you want me to do first?"

"I've got a few boxes of watermelons in the back; you can bring them to the front and stack them in this bin."

Kevin started to bring the three boxes out to the front and started to stack them. He was on the third layer when someone walked in through the front and the bell rang. Kevin didn't pay any attention to it; he thought it was just some ordinary customer. The stranger quietly got right behind Kevin and stood there watching him for a second.

"Always the humble type, are yaw Kevin?" said the stranger.

Kevin turned around and saw Henry standing there. The two hadn't seen each other in two years, since Henry left for boot camp. Both men were now official soldiers in the Osean military, one, a grunt of the army, the other, a nugget of the air force. And as Kevin looked at Henry, he couldn't help but notice the change in his appearance. He had gained about ten more pounds of weight in muscle alone. His hair was a lot shorter than it usually and he had a nice scar on his right cheek. But he still had that smile from fourteen years ago.

"Thought I would find you here."

"What, you practicing recon on me?"

"No, I saw you walking down Red Rock and knew you would swing in here."

"Since you two are here, maybe the both of you can help get this place up to speed." said Mrs. Cameron.

Henry just stared back at here with a blank face while Kevin shoved a melon into his gut and told him to finish stacking these. For the next few hours, Henry and Kevin stacked, swept, and cleaned fruit. During their work, a wannabe thief entered the shop but when he saw who was inside, he quickly ran out the door and past the corner. He decided that eating solid food now was better than getting beaten to a pulp. The two finally finished what they needed to do and left to Reggie's Diner for some lunch.

"So did you just get here?" asked Blaze.

"Yeah, but I can't stay for very long. I'm only here for a few days max., they have me stationed at Fort Shrapnel. And there, my service will begin."

"I've been here for over a month already. Few things have changed after two years."

"I know what you mean, besides the football team going downhill. Everything's still the same. So… How are things with that Nagase woman?"

Right after he said those words, he found Kevin's hand at his collar pulling him forward. "What did I say I'll do to you if you say that stuff again?"

"Relax Kevin, I see you still haven't developed a sense a humor yet." laughed Henry.

Kevin released his hold and things became quite for a few moments. Their waitress then came over and gave them their orders where the two "brothers" then continued to talk and catch up with old times. They are later walking down Kenwood Pl where they met at the front of Kevin's home. Mr. Hatcher is right at the mailbox when he sees the two and walks over.

"Well there's something I haven't seen in quite awhile. The two soldiers of Plymouth here at the same time, fully authorized and ready for service." said Mr. Hatcher with a laugh.

"Don't get too excited, I'm only here for a few days and there's no telling when Kevin here is going to be assigned to an air base." said Henry.

"Oh, by the way fellas, I got something here for you Kevin. It's from the Air Force so it might just answer that question."

Kevin opened the envelope and read what it said.

_Dear Mr. Kevin Johnson,_

_We are aware of your completion of air force training and congratulate you on your accomplishment. This letter has been assigned to you to inform you that you will be stationed at Sand Island Air Base and are now proudly part of the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron. You are to report to base on August the 5th. A private airline ticket is concealed in her and you are ordered to be at the Oured Airport and board the selected plane and the arranged time. You are allowed to bring two pairs of civilian clothing and any three personal items. Don't be late and welcome to the Osean Air Force._

_Sincerely,_

_Colonel Bernard Lee_

"Well, it looks like I'm going to Sand Island tomorrow."

That's somewhere in the Crese Ocean. You lucky dog, you get to spend your duty on the beach while I have to go to some boring, gritty base probably in the middle of nowhere." said Henry.

"Your leaving again, that's a shame, they send you back home and when you start to feel relaxed, they call you back and we never see you for a year of so." cried out Hatcher.

"Can you guys excuse me; I need some time to think. I'll call a bit later and we'll have a good time alright." Said Kevin and he left the two, going into his home and plopping himself on the bed in his room. He just laid there, thinking calmly to himself, "That's cutting it pretty close. I get the letter and they expect me to say goodbye to everyone and leave with no idea when I'll be back. And what's expecting me at Sand Island? What the hell am I going to do since we are at peace? Is anyone else from Hierlarcke being there as well?" He laid there for a good while thinking when all of a sudden, he heard the phone ring. He picked it up to find Rev McDonald on the other end telling him to come over to the church for some spiritual counseling.

Kevin arrives at the church's multipurpose room where he was greeted to a big surprise. Henry, McDonald, Hatcher, Cameron, ect where all throwing Kevin a big going away party. Kevin couldn't help but give one of his rare smiles and the festivities began. Everyone was enjoying themselves when Henry and Kevin got face to face with each other. The two really didn't say anything to each other but both understood what was going through the others mind and that was good enough for them. Kevin also got some goodbyes from others which sort of gave him a sense of purpose in what he was going to do. He later got home at around 10:30 and packed up. He made sure to bring his guitar and pictures, and McDonald assured him that he could bring his motorcycle to the base which was sent to the airlines earlier. Kevin fell to sleep easily in his bed for the last time and dreamed of being up in the sky.

_The next day… _Kevin is at the Oured Airport saying more goodbyes to everyone and shaking hands. He was told that he would be in everybody's prayers and that he would be missed. He was also told not to get himself killed in anything and was joked about a parade in his honor when he got back. The last person that Kevin said bye to was Henry where the two shook hands and said their farewells to each other.

"Don't go off getting killed in something stupid. After both of our services are up, we'll have a drink. They'll be on me." said Henry.

"I'm going to stick you to that." replied Kevin.

Both than gave a brotherly hug and Blaze entered the tunnel to where his plane was. Unknown to the two, they would both be on the same battlefield in the future. Glory would find them both.

_The next day… _"So your one of the new nuggets that was assigned here. Well I got just one thing to tell you, boy. While you are here, you are under my command, just like everyone else here. This is my island got it? If you piss me off, you will be finishing your service flying freight planes from Belka, transporting crates filled with rubber dog vomit. Do I make myself clear to you?"

"Yes sir." answered Blaze.

Colonel Orson Perault then turned with a scowl on his face and walked away back to his office. At that moment, Blaze knew he wouldn't like that man at all, the so called "Emperor of the Island." In truth, no one really did, but they never said it to his face.

"Follow me please." said Hamilton.

Now Captain Hamilton on the other hand, seemed a whole lot different than Colonel Perault. He actually greeted Blaze when he got off the plane. He told warned him about the Colonel and to just say "Yes sir." after his intimidating speech to him. Blaze really didn't pay much mind to Perault's threat about pissing him off. He followed Hamilton to the end of the hall and turned right and showed him what was called "The Briefing Room." He told him his new squadron was in there and that they were primarily full of nuggets like him.

"Fortunately you're the last one to be here so you can begin immediately. Good luck." said Hamilton and he left to take care of some other business.

Kevin entered the room and saw that it was full of other people. Nuggets just like him, except for the two sitting in the front of the room. Kevin could tell that they were experienced fighter pilots and that they were going to be under their wings through everything. He walked over until he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

"Hey Blaze, glad to see ya buddy."

Kevin turned and saw that chatterbox, Chopper, giving him a salute. Blaze couldn't believe it. What were the odds that the two would wind up in the same squadron? He started to think, that this was a sort of punishment by God for something.

"Kevin is that you?" says another familiar voice from behind.

He turns around and finds Kei Nagase standing there with a sort of shocked look on here face. She was also assigned here as well and for some reason, deep down inside Kevin, he was glad that she was. She was about to say something else, but before the words got out, another voice cried out; "Alright, quite down. Let's not have this take longer than it should." It was a hard, old voice from a man who had seen much action back in his younger days. Kevin sat down at the seat near him and turned his head to the front where he saw a gritty, old man sitting between the other two experienced pilots. "My name is Captain Jack Bartlett, that's Captain Bartlett to all of you. You all have been selected to serve as both guardians of this base and Osea. Despite as this place might look; this is not an island getaway with those fruity drinks. This is the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron or Wardog Squadron. As for me, whether you like it or not, I am your squadron leader. That means up there, I'm in charge. You follow my orders and follow the exactly as I tell you to. As for these two, they are your senior officers, Baker and Sevson. You are to listen to them unless I say otherwise. If you listen to us and follow our lead, you'll do okay here. I suggest you all get your beauty rest people because work begins tomorrow. You are dismissed."

At that, the nuggets got out of their seats and headed to the door while the three senior officers continued sitting at their seats calmly. The rookies were directed to exit the building through the double doors at the end of the hallway. When they went through the doors, they found their bags sitting along the building, waiting to be picked up. Attached to each bag was a room number and key. Blaze found his black bag and guitar case and saw that he was to be in room 8. An officer was directing people over to the living quarters which were across the runway, in a double-story building. Blaze found his room on the first floor, praying that Alvin wasn't going to be his roommate. He opened the door into the empty room with two desks and a double bunk bed. He laid out his bag and laid on the bed, quietly, to himself. About 10 minutes later, Kevin heard a knock on the door. He answered it and found Alvin standing there with his usual goofy smile on his face.

"What do you want Chopper?"

"Nothing, just checking up on you. Oh, by the way, you'll be glad to know that we each get our own rooms. I know how you like your privacy so that's why I came." said Chopper.

There was a few seconds of silence when Chopper broke the ice and said "They have a lounge up stairs and some of the guys are playing music. Why don't you come up? You can play your guitar. I'm sure they'll all enjoy it."

Kevin thought for a second and decided. "No, I think I'll just crash here for the night. Besides, I'm not really that big on parties or stuff. I'd probably just hang out with my back against the wall, watching everyone."

"Alright! Guess I'll see you tomorrow man."

Chopper left and headed to the lounge thinking "He's not normal. What kind of person skips out on a party? Aw well, it's his decision. Time to rock." But Blaze did tell the truth. At his own, going away party, he just stood against the wall watching. Everyone came to him to talk and say goodbye. Though they primarily did most of the talking. In Blaze's room, he got out his guitar and started to play some of his own songs on it alone. It made him forget about reality for a while. He just played long into the night. It wasn't until midnight when he decided to turn in. He tucked himself in and slept soundly, excited about the coming day.


	8. Tears of an Angel

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (Starts to grind the ax.)

_The following mourning… _The nuggets were to report to Hangar A to begin their active duty. The first day was real simple; each officer took a band of nuggets up on patrol. Blaze was put with Bartlett's group, along with Nagase. Here it was his first flight as a member of the Osean Air Force. This was what Blaze was hoping for that took six years of training to do.

His squad was the first to take off. They each were given F-5 Tigers, while their Captain was piloting the F-4 Phantom. It looked more like some old relic from a museum than a formidable fighter. But with the world at peace and the dramatic cuts to the defense budget, ancient wonders like these had a larger part in the Osean military. The Captain went up first followed by each nugget in their fighter, one at a time. Soon, all the fighters in the group were airborne, wound tightly in formation behind the lead plane. "You think some bogeys are going to come out of nowhere and engage us, like back at Hierlarck?" said on of the nuggets over the radio.

"Not unless you want to go down in flames. Who said that back there by the way?" said Bartlett.

The nugget responded "Uh, that was me sir."

"Me who? I need a name hear you know."

"Wallace Fryman sir. Callsign Copperhead."

"Some good advice you should take to heart here nugget. Shut up! If there were real enemies around, they could hear you yammering and strike without you even noticing. This goes for the rest of you too. You talk when I say you can talk and shut up when I order you to shut up. Am I clear on that?"

All the nuggets in flight answered in unison "Yes sir."

"Right now, keep quite and stay in formation. We're going to start practicing in a minute, so listen for my instructions."

For the rest of the day, the pilots practiced maneuvers and strategies if the need arises. For the most part things went pretty smoothly. Blaze could still clearly remember his old instructor, back in training, making him do the same maneuver over and over again till it was perfect. He guessed all that was starting to pay off for everyone. Everyone returned to the lounge to relax, since they had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. Blaze himself even stopped in for awhile which made Chopper say a crack about that they were finally worthy to be in his presence. Blaze just smirked and joined most of the pilots for a movie that was playing on television. About half way through the film, Blaze noticed Nagase sitting on the couch alone, reading a book quietly to herself. And for some reason he couldn't explain, he walked over to her on his own free will.

"What are you reading there?"

Nagase was surprised to be bothered, thinking everyone would just watch the movie. But she was even more shocked to see that it was Blaze who came over. She thought it was so unlike him to do that, but she didn't mind it.

"Oh nothing, just something stupid. You wouldn't really be interested in it."

"The History Behind the Legend: The Tale of the Razgriz Demon. I think I did a report on that in high school."

"It's…Its really stupid to think that…" She looks down "It's just that I always had an interest in the myth. When I was…"

But she never finished. One of the nuggets had come over and asked what was going on. He noticed the book she was reading and said that the Razgriz legend was a baby story to scare kids and asked why she was reading such a ridiculous book. Nagase just froze there for a second, not moving. She then got up and ran out of the lounge. For a split second, Blaze thought he saw a tear fall from her eye.

"What was her problem?"

Blaze didn't say anything. He wanted to punch the guy standing there, but knew it would accomplish nothing. He left the lounge as well, leaving the other pilot alone with a bewildered look on his face. Blaze got down the stairs in time to see one of the doors slam close. He went over to the door and knocked.

"Kei its me, Kevin. Can I come in?" There was no noise.

"Please Kei, what's wrong? Talk to me here."

"Go away. Please, just leave." Answered Kei, yelling though the door with tears in her eyes.

Kevin then left in silence and returned to his room where he stayed for the rest of the day. He laid there on his bed wondering what he could possibly do to comfort Nagase. What was she going to say about the book? These thoughts made him feel sad for her. He wished he could just solve the problem and all this would just go away. But he didn't even know what caused her such pain. It had to have been more than the comments made by that blockhead pilot. He later got out his guitar and started to come up with a new song. He worked on it to relax his mind and soon new waves of ideas flooded into it. He kept working long into the night with new ideas still fresh in his head. But he finally gave into sleep, the only adversary he couldn't defeat and fell into dreamland while a young woman, on the other side of the building cried herself to sleep.

The next few days were basically the same with maneuver practicing and strategies. They eventually started to continue these practices at night with pretty much the same success. For those days, Blaze didn't say a word to Nagase. He was afraid that she would be upset again and thought it was best to avoid her for a while. He relayed this message to Chopper and told him to just give her space for the time being. Chopper also noticed some sort of sadness in her, and when he heard about the event in the lounge, he respected Blaze's wish. Both thought that this was the best for her. That she would come out when she was ready.

_A few days later... _It was evening and Blaze just arrived outside with his jacket on. Tonight, the nuggets were given a pass to go off base and have a little fun. They got on the plane and after a very short flight, touched down at the local airstrip, where the bus waited for them outside of the complex. Everyone went in side to freshen up and then packed into the bus for a night of pleasure. Blaze left a little late while the bus to take them had already left a minute ago, but Blaze didn't care. He was going out on his motorcycle which was parked and locked up at a nearby fence. He was able to talk Hamilton into letting him pack it onto the plane before it left. He really owed him for this. He got to his bike when the building doors flew open and out ran none other than Kei Nagase. She took a quick look around and shouted in anger; she had missed the only bus that would take them out. She then stood there with her head down, beating herself up for being late.

Blaze saw all this and couldn't let himself stand there and watch. He walked over to her and called out her name. "Hey Nagase."

She turned to his direction and stared. Blaze knew that this was a bit of a risk, but it was one worth taking.

She brushed the hair out of here eyes and said "What are you still doing here. I thought you were on the bus."

"I planned on going on my bike. Why are you still here?"

She didn't answer. She looked down on the ground again, making Blaze feel uncomfortable since the last time she did, she yelled at him.

"You need a ride. I've got a spare helmet you can use." This made Nagase look up. She then thought, "Why is he doing this? After what happened before, I don't deserve his kindness."

"Come on. There's nothing to worry about. I was doing jumps on this thing back at Hierlarck." It was true, Blaze earned a little extra cash, making bets with the other pilots on whether he could make that jump or not. And every time, Blaze walked away with someone else's money in his pocket. Nagase finally agreed to allow Blaze to give her a ride. She put on his spare helmet that he kept in a sack on the back of the bike. She was a little scared since she never been on one of these machines before. Blaze got on with Nagase sitting on the back, holding him tightly around the hips and they were off.

Nagase held tighter as they got up to speed and made to the city limits. They made their way through the busy streets which were filled with lights from the cities nightlife. A number of night clubs and bars were open for business with their neon signs glaring and music pumping, but the pilots were ordered to stay in a special area which already had a number of these places. It was located near the coast, a few miles south of the airstrip. When Blaze's bike finally got there, both noticed the bus leaving the curb with no one sitting inside but the driver. Kevin pulled into a parking lot across the street and parked his bike. "So where exactly were you going to go?" asked Blaze.

"I don't know. I planned on getting some drinks but, I didn't know that there were this many bars here."

"Well, why not just go inside one. A bar is nothing more but a place to get alcohol right? There isn't much difference between them."

Both went into a bar called Joey's. It wasn't a big place. There was a normal run-of-the-mill bar with stools, some tables around, with two pool tables and a big screen TV playing a preseason football game. It was also full of life inside as well, but there was no sign of any of the other pilots. People were drinking and shooting pool and having a good time. Both sat at two open stools at the bar and ordered a pair of beers. The barkeeper brought over two bottles Black Lightning and a bowl of nuts for them and left to care for the other customers. Nagase grabbed her bottle and took a quick gulp. She then put her bottle down and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. Blaze saw this and put his hand on her shoulder asking if she was okay.

"I am Kevin. I just haven't been getting much sleep lately."

Both then turned their attention over to the game which was between the Oured Tigers and the Dallas Bay Monarchs. Blaze watched the game, knowing a little secret. The Monarchs handed the ball off to their running back who broke through the line and gained a first down for his team. He wore number 38 on his jersey and was originally drafted by the November City Storm from Greendale University, but was traded last season to Dallas Bay for a quarterback. It was Quinton Hews, Kevin's old teammate from high school. He was obviously doing well for himself. Quinton actually made it to the Diamond Bowl game in November for the game between Jefferton and the Air Force Academy. He was in the stands cheering for Osea's future soldiers and for his old teammate who played his heart out in that game.

About an hour passed by, Kei was finishing her second beer while Blaze only got through about half of his first when some other company entered the bar. Blaze could tell that they might be trouble when the barkeeper whispered "Not these guys again." under his breathe when he passed by him. There were four of them and they sat at the only open table left and called for one of the waitresses. A waitress cautiously came over and took their orders with a disgusted face on her way to the barkeep. He gave her the beers and told her to be quick with them. She returned to their table a quickly left the tray there and bolted away before they got much of a chance to say anything to her. Kei noticed them and called them pigs while Kevin called the barkeep and asked who those gentlemen were.

"There some of the locals here. They come here from time to time, get drunk and hit on the waitress. We've had the cops come here about three times already this month. They even start fights with the customers here. My advise to you stranger is to just leave them alone."

Blaze thought to himself, "If they try something, I'm not going to leave them alone." He continued to enjoy himself, despite the rowdy noise from the four strangers who were ordering enough drinks to drown a horse. Unfortunately, nature called Kevin and he had to respond. He didn't want to leave Nagase alone with those hoodlums, but he had no say in the situation. He left to the restroom and did his business as quickly as possible. When he returned to the bar, his worse fear came true. The four jerks were around Nagase, hitting on her. When he got there, he heard one of them say "How about a kiss sweetheart from a real man." as he scratched himself. Blaze was fortunately able to get between them and Nagase before they completely surrounded her.

"Back off, I don't think she's your type.' said Blaze. He could see the barkeeper from the corner of his eye looking nervous and heading to the phone.

"Who are you, some little punk." said one of the drunks.

"You looking for a fight or something." said another.

All four of them were bigger than Kevin, but he was not intimidated by them. One of the men poked his finger at Kevin, laughing. "Look at this little man. I could probably break his neck like a bottle." They all laughed, including Blaze. These guys just made their last mistake. Blaze then punched the one who poked him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground. One of them then threw a punch of his own which Blaze dodged easily. He then grabbed him by the shirt and threw him over the counter, breaking some glasses. Another threw a punch at Kevin, who blocked it with his palm and grabbed his fist. At that moment, the last guy sent a punch his way, but Blaze moved his partner in front of him who took the blow. Kevin then threw another punch of his own at the guy's stomach causing him to lean over.

(Let's refer to these men in the order that they were beaten. No 1, No 2, No3 and No 4.)

No 1 then grabbed a bottle and broke it on the counter. He was planning on using it as a sort of knife. He went for a stab at Kevin who grabbed No 1's wrist with one hand, and with his free hand, he too grabbed a bottle and broke it against the side of No 1's head. Red blood started to gash from it. No 3 was on his feet, but not for long as Kevin delivered a roundhouse kick to his head, knocking him out cold. No 4 then received a hard uppercut and was knocked back onto a table that collapsed under his weight. No 2 threw a punch but that was blocked by a tray Kevin grabbed from the counter and used it as a shield. Kevin then grabbed No 2 by the shirt again and threw him over the counter again, onto the floor, where Blaze mounted on him, punching him in the face. A waitress then called out that on of them was getting away and sure enough, No 1 was running to the door while holding his hand to his head. Kevin took the tray and fired it like a frisbee at him, cutting his legs out from under him.

After the fight, there was broken glass and blood on the floor with pieces of a wooden table. The police arrived and demanded what was going on. The barkeeper explained everything to them, that the four men started the fight and that Kevin was just defending himself. The cops arrested the four and sent them to jail, with a wave of cheers coming from everyone at the bar. Blaze checked on Nagase to see if she was hurt or not. After she confirmed that she was unharmed, he went over to the barkeep with some cash and apologized for his actions and hoped this would pay for the damages.

"Forget the damages, these two are on the house." said the barkeep and pulled out to cold bottles of his finest beer. Kei was still shocked after what she witnessed, she never saw Blaze act that brutal ever. Yet he still acted so calm through it all. He didn't yell or curse, he was the same man then as he always was, but she couldn't shake off that he was still different in that fight. Like something inside of him was unleashed like a demon.

For the rest of the night, Blaze got a lot of gratitude from everyone. They hated those guys too and were glad that someone finally put them in their place. But Blaze was just his usual humble self, saying he just did what came natural to him. Kei was still deep in thought about, wondering how he could still be this way after everything that just happened. "Why? Why did he do that? Those pigs were around me and he came in and… He did it to protect me. So that I wouldn't be hurt or violated. That's why." She then looked at him and a smile formed on her face. She began to understand just how far he would go to protect those who needed protecting.

It was about the time the bus was to return to pick everybody up. The two pilots made their way out of the bar with a big "Good night" being heard as they left behind them. It was already an exciting night, but Blaze thought he had enough excitement for one night. He crossed the street to his bike with Nagase following right behind him.

"Don't you ant to take the bus back?"

"No, I thought I could get a ride back with you, unless you don't want to." said Nagase in her monotone voice.

"No, no I don't have a problem. Here." said Blaze as he handed her a helmet.

She got on the back of the bike and once again she held Kevin tightly as he rode into the moonlight. They returned to the airstrip right behind the bus and made their way to the plane, while an attendant took his bike and prepared to place it into the cargo bay. They returned to Sand Island and made their way back to the housing building. Blaze got as as far as the door to his room, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Nagase standing there.

"Can I have a word with you in my room?" asked Nagase.

"Sure." responded Blaze.

She followed her across the building to her room where they entered. Kei's room was decorated with a poster of an F-14 on her all and on her desk was the book on the Razgriz that she was reading in the lounge a few days ago. She sat down on the foot of her bed and patted the spot next to her for him to sit down. Blaze sat next to her, wondering what was about to happen.

"Kevin, first off, thank you for the ride. It was very sweet of you. Also, I'm sorry for the way I acted in the lounge. I was just emotional and what he said about my book, it hurt. It wasn't your fault; I had no reason to treat you like I did. I'm sorry."

"Before, you were going to say something about the book, but never finished it."

Nagase's eyebrows rose a little and remembered the words in her mind. "When I was little, I loved the Razgriz legend. About how he became a hero after all the evils he committed. I loved that story ever since I was a girl. Actually." She got up and went to her desk and pulled out a small, red book from one of the drawers. She sat herself back on the bed next to Blaze and continued. "This book tells the story of Razgriz. I remember reading this book a lot when I was little, but then it was taken from me and I never heard the words again. Not until after I completed my training. When I got back home, my mother gave me this book as a gift. It's pretty old, and some of the pages are gone, but this might have been the best present I ever received." She opened up the book to him, revealing what was inside. "I've been trying to write back in the missing pages from memory, but it's not easy. I guess trying to remember every word in a story from memory would be difficult for anyone." She put her head down and a tear was starting to form from her eye. Kevin put his arm around her to comfort her. He then whispered in her ear "Don't cry, please don't cry."

Nagase began to calm down. "You know when I said this book was taken away from me. It was my mother who took it from me, my birthmother. I was orphaned when I was eight. My dad died when I was still a baby, and my mom wasn't the best at raising me. I began to read this book when I was five and I used it as my escape from her. But one day, she came into my room and took me into the car. We drove off for many hours, miles away from home. We pulled into some parking lot and told me to get out. She then drove off, leaving me on the asphalt on that cold night. I was found by a cop and he took me over to the station. They asked me my name and where I lived. They later told me that my house was burned down. My own mother abandoned me and set my house on fire. I was adopted by a nice family, the Nagase's. They took care of me, they raised and protected me. They never knew the Razgriz story, but I kept it alive in my mind. But over the years, some parts of it began to fade from my memory. That's why I'm trying to keep it alive. It was my only source of happiness through those horrible years. I long ago dropped my original last name, no good to keep it with all the pain it brought me." She paused for a moment and then "I joined the air force because I knew my father did when he was alive, and for some reason, knowing that made me feel like doing the same. I know he died when I was only an infant, but deep inside, I feel that things would have been different for me. But I'll never know how that would be like. That's my life story, sounds hard doesn't it?"

"Sounds more like hell to me."

She blushed a little. "Thank you for everything again. For some reason, I couldn't help but tell someone this. I'm glad it was you." She then smiled.

"My life isn't that much different than yours. I never knew my parents; they died when I was only a baby as well. The rest of my family met their fates before I was born, so I have no blood relatives. I was put into the care of a family friend, Katie. She was like a mother to me, she raised me, much like your second mother did for you. But, that wouldn't last long, like I'm cursed. When I was 18, she died in a hospital. In her final hour, she made me give her a promise. A promise that I intend to keep even if it's the last thing I do. I promised that I would remain kind and try to open up more. It's taken some time, especially the latter. The problem is that I'm not much of an open guy, never have been. But, I guess what I'm doing now would count as open." This made Nagase blush even more. "As for my reasons to fight, I do it to protect. It's the only thing keeping me going." Nagase then put her arm around Kevin and they got close to each other. Nagase could feel the warmth coming from his body and it felt good.

Then a voice on the intercom came on, ordering the nuggets to go to bed. Both got up and hugged each other, feeling like a heavy weight was just taken off them. Kevin then said "Good night" and ran out the door. Nagase kept her smile, long after he left and turned in and for the first time in what felt like forever, she fell asleep with no tears in her eyes and dreamed peacefully.


	9. Before the Beginning

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (starts looking for victims to test the ax on).

_September 22, 2010… _It was big day for Sand Island, because today, a journalist was visiting the base to cover a story, Colonel Perault got all the nuggets together the day before, telling them about it and warning them as well. "Tomorrow is a big day for this base. The journalist coming is from the Oured Chronicle, one of the biggest news agencies in the country. Everybody in Osea is going to hear about how we do things here, so be forewarned people. What you do while he's here not only reflects upon the base and our military, it also reflects me as well. And I swear, if any of you screws this up and makes me look bad, I'll see personally that you spend the rest of your service cleaning the oil spills from the hangar floors. Do I make myself clear here?" All the nuggets responded "Yes sir." "Be sure to behave yourselves or else." And on that, the Colonel left to his office to give his medals a good shining..

"Jackass. Be sure to behave yourselves or else." Said Chopper in his impression of the base commander. "I got a few words to tell this journalist about our beloved Colonel. You would think that this was an international affair with him. I'm willing to bet that this newsman isn't here for him and how he keeps this place combat-capable."

"It's probably about Captain Bartlett. He was a pilot in the Belkan Conflict 15 years ago. I heard he was a true ace who shot down twenty-three enemy fighters himself during the war. And to think that were training under his wing." said Nagase.

"Come on Nagase. He's been Captain for about forever. Never once did he get promoted since the war. Yeah, I've done my homework; I heard the stories about him. He should learn to lighten up once in a while, he's way too tense. The way he barks orders at us, I'm afraid he's going to blow out a vein soon." said Chopper.

"I know he's tough, but he cares about us. Our lives are more important to him than any mission or aircraft." replied Nagase.

"Whatever. I am glad for him for finally getting the recognition he deserves, but I still think he's a hard bastard." said Chopper as he left the briefing room.

Nagase looked down at the floor and sighed. "He likes the captain. He just has his own way of expressing it." said Blaze from his seat. "It's second nature to him to make remarks about that. That's what makes him Chopper, though as annoying as he may be." Nagase turned around and smiled at him. "He is a nice guy, and not a bad pilot at that. But he really should be careful with that mouth, its going to get him in major trouble one day."

"You're probably right, but I doubt he'll ever stop."

The next day came and the journalist arrived. When he got off the plane, he was greeted by Colonel Perault and Captain Hamilton, who gave him a first class tour of the base. Kevin went into one of the hangars to relax. He liked the smell of jet fuel for some reason, and in the hangar was an F-4 Phantom, Bartlett's Phantom, getting some maintenance work. It didn't look like anyone was around and took a seat on a crate and looked out at the open water in his view. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He turned around and saw the chief mechanic of the base. Blaze has seen him around and he did give some lessons on maintaining the planes to the nuggets.

"Kevin Johnson is it? The football star?"

With a sigh he responded "The one in the same."

"I use to watch you guys play on the televised games. A hell of an improvement over the teams I saw in the past. A literal resurrection I say."

"I hear that a lot. I just went out there and played, the overall team was better. I only helped."

"That's very modest of you. Some friends of mine mad a fortune on betting in that Diamond Bowl game. I made 200 dollars with your performance myself. You really gave those Owls a hard time bringing you down."

"Well that's the past now, my playing days are over. By the way, what are you doing with that thing Second Lieutenant?"

"Please call me Pops, seeing that I'm probably the oldest guy on this base. As for our old friend here, she just needs a new fuel pump and she'll be ready to go. I better get to that now before tomorrows drills." And Pops left to take care of it, leaving Blaze alone again. He continued to sit their looking out into the surf, but once again his peace was disturbed.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a few questions?"

Blaze turned around again, to find someone he never saw before standing there. He was a little taller than Blaze, with red hair and a notebook in his hands. He stared a t Blaze for a moment, as if trying to remember where he saw him before. "I know who you are. Your Kevin Johnson, you played running back for the Air Force Academy. I thought you would go pro, the sports analysts were saying that you would be a high draft pick. But you didn't enter the draft, instead of making millions of dollars playing football you chose to remain in the military. Why is that?"

"You're that journalist from Oured right? Are doing a piece on this base or on my playing days?"

He looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry, it's just that one of my co-workers was a sports writer and he kept going on about how you were going to bring the Knights out of the basement. He did the story on your Diamond Bowl victory and MVP trophy."

"I understand. To answer your question, I joined the air force to serve my nation, not play football. I made that decision a long time ago."

"Alright, but seriously, I came here to ask you some questions about your squad leader, Captain Jack Bartlett. If that's okay with you?"

Blaze gave another sigh "Fire away."

"What are your thoughts about the Captain?"

"My thoughts? He's probably the best fighter pilot on this base. He challenges us, pounds us with maneuvers to help make us all we can be. He's the type of guy that I would want covering my back."

"How do you feel about being in the air force, though this is a time of peace?"

This took longer for Kevin to answer. He had to put some real thought into it. "Just because there's peace, doesn't mean that everyone accepts it. There may not be any major conflicts right now, but that doesn't mean we should drop our guard. We have to always stay alert and do whatever is in our power to prevent any further conflicts between countries. It may not be so glorious now with no big struggles, but I am still proud to be here, serving to protect my homeland."

"Nicely said junior."

It was Pops, walking up to the two with a smirk. Both men didn't even realize that he was around. "How long have you been standing there?" asked Blaze.

"Long enough to hear about the journalist friend and you not going pro. I'm guessing your that reporter whose here for a story."

"Yeah. Albert Genette, and you are…"

"Second Lieutenant Peter Beagle. I'm the chief mechanic here." The two talked to each other with Pops answering Genette's questions. Kevin saw this as his opportunity to leave. On his ay back to the housing building, he thought about Genette and Pops. He liked the two, but he couldn't help but think that he's really going to need Pops in the near future. And as for Albert, Kevin felt that he was going to get one hell of a story. He made his way to the lounge where he ran into Nagase and Chopper. Chopper was going on about how he told Genette of how an asswipe the Colonel was and how tough Bartlett was. "He really seemed to like the stuff on the Captain. Don't worry; I have more respect for him than you think. But as for Perault, he got the big guns, though I thing he reporter didn't really like him a whole lot."

"No one here really does. For the way he acts all high and mighty, its no wonder" said Blaze.

"You two really shouldn't sat that, he is a higher ranked officer." said Nagase.

"I don't care if he's the damn President. He's a jerk and everyone knows it."

The rest of the day was pretty much the same. The squad went back up and practiced maneuvers, though they were reminded over the radio from Perault about keeping it perfect.. Everything went without a hitch and the squad flew beautifully. Everything remained peaceful on the little island, miles away from any civilization. But things wouldn't stay calm for much longer. A very dark cloud hung over Osea, and it was ready to rain down it's hatred.


	10. Promotions

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (Chases my brother with the ax).

_September 23, 2010... _It was mourning, and a few of the nuggets were called into the briefing room for a special assignment. "We got a little surprise for you. Instead of lounging around the base all day, the three of us are taking you all up for maneuvers practice. We're going to give Mr. Genette here, a firsthand look of what we do in the skies. I expect you all in hangar A in full suit by 1030 hours. Dismissed." said Bartlett, still in his usual seat. The nuggets all left and started to prepare for their sudden orders.

Kei Nagase turned the corner, when she ran into Chopper and Blaze.

"So, why did the he want to see all of you in private? Is he actually going to give us something good to do for a change?" asked Chopper.

"Nothing really, we're supposed to go up to give the journalist some real flying experience up close. It should be easy enough to do." answered Nagase.

"Well don't embarrass yourself up there, or Perault will have your head. Personally, he can have my foot shoved up his fat ass for all I care." said Chopper.

"Just be careful." said Blaze. He was starting to get a reputation for his one-liners since that was all he ever really said. Kei and Chopper both felt it was a good sign from him, like he was becoming more human, unlike back at Hierlarcke, where he hardly said a word. But he was still an enigma to everyone. Nagase was the only one to know of his past, but he still pretty much kept things to himself.

At 1030 hours, the selected nuggets were in Hangar A and ready to take the skies. Bartlett had Genette strapped to the backseat of his F-4, with a nervous look on his face. He had no idea what it felt like to takeoff in one of these machines, and he was sure of what his reaction would be. Bartlett's plane was the first to take off, then the other two lifted off the runway, and then the nuggets. By 1040 hours, all the planes where airborne in tight formation over Cape Landers and stated their maneuvers. While in the backseat, Genette tried to take snapshots of the other planes with his camera, but with the speed of the aircraft and his concentration on not to loose his lunch, he found it very difficult. Thirty minutes later, the squadron would get news that they never expected.

"Heartbreak One, we have an urgent assignment for you and your squad."

"Give me a break! I'm babysittin' nuggets up here!"

"Command Room to Wardig Squadron. We have leakers, aircraft type unknown. Crossing the border to Cape Landers bearing 278 to 302. Captain Bartlett, your flight is the only group close enough to make the intercept."

Bartlett was pissed off. He knew the nuggets were not ready for anything like this. With any luck, this wouldn't be too hard and the nuggets would be back at base with a hell of a story to tell the others. "Baker, Svenson, go trail and stay close. The three of us will go high and engage the bandits. All other aircraft stay low and out of the fight." At that he told his squad to head to specific coordinates that he felt was safe enough away from the action. The nuggets obeyed the order and left the three instructors as the brave knights they were.

The nuggets made their way to the order coordinates where they stayed low, listening to the chatter going on over the radio. Meanwhile, the three other pilots arrived over Cape Landers heading to vector 278-302, with no bandits on radar.

"What the hell! Come in Sand Island. No sign of the enemy, repeat, no sign of the enemy. Over! I don't like this at all." said Captain Bartlett.

_Back to the nuggets… _"Damn it. A battle is about to happen and all we do is watch it from the sidelines. That just sucks." complained Cavalier.

"Well at least we get to see the Captain in action. Besides, this could just be some trick to impress the journalist. Colonel Perault was talking about showing him what we can do here. We're just here to get it rubbed in our faces." responded Areo in a calm voice.

This didn't feel right to Nagase. She had a bad feeling about this and her fear was about to come true. "Wait, I've got five bogies on radar coming fast to our position. They look like… fighters. Migs." And sure enough, five fully armed Migs were flying straight for their direction. "Enemy fighters on radar. We are cleared to engage, shoot them all down." said one of the Mig pilots.

Then, the Migs dispersed and engaged the rookie pilots. On of the Migs got a lock on one and fired. The missile hit the Osean jet, causing it to explode into a ball of fire. The pilot never ejected.

"Come in Sand Island. This is Edge; we got five fighters attacking us. Mig 31's by the look of them, we need back up now."

Bartlett heard this and cursed himself. He led the nuggets right in front of the enemy's path. The three fighters then turned and headed to the nuggets position at full speed.

"Hold on, we're on our way."

"Captain, do we have permission to fire back?" asked Edge.

"Affirmative, but don't get too engaged. These guys are experienced pilots, try to escape and only engage if you have no other option." responded Bartlett.

"This isn't looking good." said Baker over the intercom.

The nuggets were panicking. This was their first live fighting ever, not any of the bullshit stuff they did back at Hierlarcke. This was the real thing. Edge had a bandit on her tail. She tried to sake him off, but to no avail. She knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he got missile lock on her. But before that happened, the Mig pilot got a missile alert warning and then got his engine blown off by a missile from Bartlett. One down, four to go. "Thank you sir."

"Don't thank me yet, we still have four more of these bastards to deal with."

Svenson got a lock on an enemy from behind and fired his guns. The bullets tore up the enemy's right wing, sending it crashing to the cape. "One more out of here."

Meanwhile, back on Sand Island. Blaze felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of what. He decided to go for a walk around the base to clear his mind, and walked outside into the cool sea air. He walked over to the eastern side of the base, hen some tiny lights caught his attention in the distance. He got as far as the sandy beach and focused his eyes on the tiny lights. He then realized what they were and dropped his jaw. He knew a fight was going on when he saw it, and that was just what he was witnessing from afar. "Owe crap, that's not a good sign." Thought Kevin and ran back into the complex.

Things weren't going so well for the nuggets. They just could handle this and were shot down one at a time by the more experienced Mig pilots. To make matters worse, Captain Eric Svenson was shot down and dead by an enemy. "You son of a bitch. I'll make you pay for that." yelled Baker, and launched a missile at the Mig that shot down his friend. The missile hit the fuel line, covering the jet in flames. "That was for Jaguar." But then another MIg got on his six and used his guns which hit the body of Bakers aircraft. But fortunately, the damage wasn't as bad and he could still fly. Bartlett got behind the same Mig and chased it off his wingman's tail which he then shot down, leaving just one enemy plane left.

That particular Mig just shot down Cavalier, leaving just three Osean fighters left. Edge was right above the Mig, witnessing another of her comrades killed by the enemy. She had spent the battle dodging enemy fire and on two occasions, had a missile lock on her warning light. She didn't know why she did it, but she slowed down a little and dropped her altitude to get right behind the enemy jet. Her onboard computer got the missile lock and the plane on her HUD had a red square on it meaning that she had a shot. She hesitated for a split second, then used her thumb to push the button on her joystick, firing the sidewinder which hit its target and trailed smoke. She fired again, once again hitting her target and leaving the aircraft a falling mass of burning metal. Genette had witnessed this from the back of the lead plane and was impressed by the only surviving nugget.

"Sand Island, this is Heartbreak One. All bogies destroyed. Unfortunately, only three planes are coming back. We're on our way to the airstrip now."

"Confirmed Heartbreak One, you have permission to land."

"Hey Baker, can you land with that thing like that?"

"You let me worry about that."

"Heartbreak One, you are ordered to land first."

"Roger that. Hold on Genette, this could be a little rough." Bartlett's plane landed without any problem except a near passed out reporter in the back.

"Edge, you go on ahead and land. I'll stay here and cover you in case we have any more unwanted visitors." said Baker.

Edge again hesitated, but said "Roger that, thank you." And landed her plane as smoothly as Bartlett's

Baker then prepared to land his craft, but it was too wounded to touch the ground safely. "Shit, the landing gear won't come out. Damn it, I can't pull up and my brakes wont work. I'm going to crash, shit." His last words. His plane skidded hard on the runway, and traveled about 200 feet before it stopped. The emergency crews arrived in under a minute, but it was too late. Captain Wally Baker was dead.

"Sorry about this."

"That pilot in the Number Seven was amazing. Did you see her fight back?"

"I couldn't bear to watch. Nagase, you keep flying like that and you'll die real soon!"

"I won't die, Sir." said Nagase in almost a whisper.

"Are you sure? You look like you couldn't hurt a fly."

Nagase had a number of things racing through her mind. The enemy fighters, her fellow nuggets dead, her two instructors dead. She saw that Genette was pointing his camera at her for a snapshot. She was pale with fright from the whole experience, but broke a small smile for him. The truth was that Genette was just as shaken as her. The only difference was that she remained cool under the pressure while he nearly pissed his pants. The only reason he took her picture was so that he could give it to her as a sort of memento of her first air battle, but when he arrived in the hangar with Bartlett, his camera was confiscated by base security for reasons of national security.

When Nagase left the hangar, she was met by both Blaze and Chopper who asked wha happened and if she was okay.

"It was horrible. Their dead, their all dead. Only Bartlett, the journalist and myself came back in one peace. But everyone else was killed in combat. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They weren't suppose to be in our position."

"That's base intelligence for you. They always get it wrong to screw you." said Chopper

"At least you're still alive. It's better than having all of you wiped out. That's what we have to focus on." said Kevin and walked away in silence to pray for the deceased.

"Don't worry about him. When he found out about the battle, he threatened to kick Hamilton's ass if he wasn't told what was going on. He was like an animal in there. I never saw him like that. You would think a demon possessed him or something." said Chopper.

"I know what you mean." Was all Nagase could say at the moment.

_At 1600 hours the same day… _The remaining nuggets were ordered to the briefing room for a special announcement from Captain Bartlett about the future of the squadron. He was found sitting in his normal seat, staring off into space. He snapped out of his funk and made the following message.

"I know you don't like this, but we're short on people. Starting tomorrow, all of you nuggets are gonna be sittin' alert. If we launch, stay glued to me up there. Nagase!"

She looked up at her Captain, escaping her thoughts on the following events. "Sir."

"You're flying Number Two on my wing. Gotta keep a eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."

Nagase gave him a sort of angry look, but held her tongue.

Chopper whispered to Copperhead "I don't know to be proud of her or feel sorry for her."

"Second Lieutenant Alvin Davenport is it?"

"Uh… yes sir."

"You're gonna fly as my number three wingman up there. Don't get too excited though. Captain Baker told me that you're a kinda joker. So when I tell you to, shut the hell up and keep your wisecracks to yourself."

Chopper was surprised to be told all this. He was more shocked that he got the number three spot in the first place.

"I'm gonna need a fourth man up there in the trail position." He gave the rest of the nuggets a quick, hard look and said, "Blaze that's your spot. It should be a good learning experience for you at least." Kevin just sat there with no expression on his face, like a rock.

"I'm going to need your absolute trust up there as you all need mine. Be ready for anything, both on the ground and in the air. You are dismissed." And the rest of the squad got out of their seats and left the room, while three left with a new sense of purpose.


	11. Flying Madness

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (I swing my ax but my brother nearly dodges the blows as I chase him.)

_September 24, 2010… _Kevin woke up early that mourning with the usual sound from the intercoms in the housing facilities that served as alarm clocks for the pilots. Today was an important day for him; he would be up in the skies as a true member of Wardog Squadron. He was done with practicing maneuvers; he had been doing that for over two years and understood everything by heart. If anything were to happen near the base, or the mainland, he would get the call to go up. This was what he trained mentally and physically for, to serve his country with honor and protect those who needed protecting. Sure enough, soon after he awoke, the call came in.

It was right after breakfast; Kevin was about to go for a little walk around the base, but was met by an officer at the door, telling him that he had to report to the briefing room at once. Kevin ran back, and under a minute later he entered the briefing room with his captain and other two squadron members sitting down and waiting. Kevin sat himself down in an empty seat and waited like the rest of the Wardogs. Chopper leaned over to him, whispering that something was up and asking if he had any idea of what it was about. Blaze just gave him the look meaning not to ask him any dumb questions, which shut up his squad member immediately. Another minute later, Colonel Perault entered with his Adjacent Commander and Second Lieutenant Payton Rhodes. Hamilton went to the back and fired up a special projector while Perault and the officer stood next to the flat screen. The room became dark and the projector then showed the Osean seal and Perault began the briefing as he normally did.

"At ease people. But don't get too comfortable. It's a grave situation for all of us right now. Let's get this briefing started."

Everyone straightened up and gave their full attention to the screen and the commanding officers. "Another aircraft of unknown origin has entered Osean Federation airspace. We have confirmed the target type as a strategic recon plane flying at low altitude. Despite our repeated warnings, it continued to penetrate our ADZ and was fired upon by Osean coastal defense force SAMs. We believe one of our SAMs damaged the unknown plane, but did not destroy it. Radar shows that the aircraft is currently losing altitude and is attempting to egress feet wet toward the ocean. Intercept this target and force it to land for identification. Do not fire upon the target until further orders are transmitted." explained Rhodes.

The Wardog Squadron then got out of their seats and suited up. They then entered Hangar A where their planes were kept. Inside was Bartlett' usual F-4 Phantom and three F-5 Tigers for his wingmen. They were the same planes the nuggets used in their exercises, and were the same planes that were shot down yesterday in the air battle. They obviously were not the best fighters on the base, but they could still hold their own in a fight. Nagase proved that. The pilots got inside their canopies, and before anything else, the Captain said to them over the radio, "Be careful up there. Just because the briefing didn't show any fighters, doesn't mean that there won't be any around. Stay alert and follow my orders. You'll survive a hell of a lot longer that way. Prepare to enter the runway." And the F-4 made its way to the start of the runway and took off into the blue, followed by three other birds on its tail, and headed for Cape Landers.

_1101 hours over Cape Landers… _The Wardogs were now over the cape, heading north. They were in the diamond formation with Bartlett at the head, Edge on his left, Chopper on his right, and Blaze right behind him. The overall mission was simple; bring down a wounded spy plane so that it can be identified. All four planes were still on alert though for any fighters that might show up, but with any luck at all, intelligence did its job for once.

"This is Heartbreak One of Wardog Squadron, we are approaching the target."

"This is AWACS, callsign Thunderhead. Roger. Bring the target to the ground. Do not fire at the target. Repeat, do not fire at the target."

"You got that, nuggets?"

"Wardog 2, roger."

"Wardog 3, roger."

Kevin didn't answer; he was lost in thought about the task at hand. It didn't feel right to him; an unarmed spy plane in this time of peace was a little fishy to him. He hoped it was just paranoia from all the excitement of his first mission. The captain didn't like that Blaze wasn't answering him, so he gave a little wake up call on the radio.

"Wardog 4! Hellooo? Can you hear me kid? You better be markin' our tail from back there."

"Yes sir, sorry. Wardog 4, roger."

"Man, I'm glad you drew the short straw instead of me!"

"Second Lieutenant Alvin H. Davenport, zip it! You need a nickname too?"

"I respectfully ask to be called "Chopper". Sir. I'm afraid I may not be able to respond to any other moniker."

"Hmm. That does fit you well… I've got a better name for you, but I'll keep it to myself. Okay?"

"Aw. Cut me some slack, man!"

At that moment, the spy craft was in view and picked up on radar. "Tally ho, we've got company. Let's go." And the four jets headed for the wounded plane.

"You're forbidden to fire until I give permission, understand?"

Chopper and Edge gave their roger, and a second later, Blaze gave his. "Roger, no fireworks until you say so." "Good boy." As they got closer to the enemy craft, they saw smoke escaping from its left engine as it was loosing altitude.

"All right, where's Motormouth Chopper?" This made Nagase gave a slight chuckle that went unheard on the radio and Kevin cracked a smile on his lips.

"Wha?... That's your name for me?"

"You've got a knack for comic dialogue. You mind sending a surrender request for me?"

"Oh. no, please, age before beauty."

"I'm real shy around strangers."

Sheesh. Testing, testing… Attention, unidentified aircraft. Set your course to our beacon immediately."

"Good."

"Uh… we will direct you to the nearest airfield. Lower your gear if you understand." The aircraft continued lowering its altitude and its landing gear appeared below its body. But then, things took an unexpected turn.

"Warning! We have four high-speed bogeys inbound. Approaching unknown aircraft bearing 280, altitude 6,000! Hold your fire until further orders!"

"Here comes the part crashers." Thought Kevin.

"Crossing the pond to fly cover for their spy plane, huh? Now there's a fighter pilot worth his wings. Enemy inbound bearing 280! Head on." And the four Osean fighters flew toward the new enemy head to head.

"You're not to fire until I say it's okay, got me?"

"Roger." Responded Blaze. He was the only one, Edge was remembering the events from yesterday and chopper was too shaken by the sight of the enemy to give back an answer. Bartlett understood their fears, but had full confidence in their abilities.

"Good boy." And the four continued with their head on collision with the enemy threat. AS they got closer, Chopper noticed something just ahead of the enemy coming their way.

"Watch it, their firing on us." Said Chopper and Wardog Squadron evaded all four missiles as the enemy fly past them.Blaze made a sharp turn with his plane and got on an enemies tail out of pure instinct.

"Shut your mouth and fire back!" said Bartlett. That was all Blaze needed. He armed himself and got a missile lock on the enemy plane and fired. There were only three left.

"I just said weapon safe. What are you doing Wardog?" asked AWACS in a harsh tone.

"Shove it! I'm not gonna watch more of my pilots die." Responded Bartlett and engaged an enemy. Edge did the same and got on an enemy's tail. The enemy pilot was surprised that she even got on his six and tried to escape, but without success. Edge fired, leaving two enemies left. Bartlett, with his superior skill, easily got behind his enemy and shot him down with guns, ripping the enemy's right wing to pieces. He then engaged the last enemy fighter which tried to leave, seeing the odds were not in his favor.

"You mind if I take this one. I will you know." asked Chopper.

"Go head" responded Bartlett and Chopper was able to shoot down the enemy with relative ease as the enemy stalled while trying to escape. But the radar picked up four more enemy fighters heading in their direction. "Watch it, they have back up." said Bartlett.

And to everyone's surprise, Blaze flew head on against the enemy squadron and full speed. The enemy planes could react to him, as they were mesmerized by the fact that a fighter was crazy enough to pull off this stunt. Blaze got a missile lock on the plane center from the right and shot it down, and before they passed, Blaze used his guns to take out the middle plane which caught fire and splashed into the ocean. Wardog could believe what they witnessed. Blaze took out two enemies in one pass, without even a scratch on him. Bartlett and Chopper took out the remaining two fighters, giving Wardog the victory in the battle.

"All unknown bogey aircraft destroyed." said Thunderhead.

"This is your captain. Can you hear my voice?" asked Bartlett.

"Chopper here, I hear you loud and clear." said Chopper.

"Roger sir." responded Edge.

"Roger, everything's normal." said Blaze.

"You all alive? All right. Nice work, nuggets. Wardog 4, you still following us? Well, to commemorate the fact that we all made it out of that battle alive, I'm gonna let you keep your nickname. From now on, I'm gonna call you kid no matter what. Got it? Godd."

"Man, I swear…"

The four heroes flew back to base in the same formation as they left. During the flight back, Nagase couldn't help but look back at Blaze's jet. She still couldn't believe what he did back there. He was like a completely different person. It was a scary sight to see, but she was glad that he was alright. As for Blaze, he went over in his mind that same stunt. "Why did I do that in the first place? It was like I wasn't myself. Like something came over me tat I can't explain. I know I loose myself when I get into fights, but that was just too extreme. I must have looked like a complete lunatic"

Back on base, Bartlett went into the main hangar to find Pops, working on the engine of one of the planes. He could always go to him if he had anything on his mind. "Hey Pete, got a minute."

"Sure hold on a minute." He finished on what he was doing, and came down and sat next to Bartlett on a crate. "What's on your mind Captain?"

"It's about the air battle today."

"Oh I heard about that. You guys did a pretty good job, being outnumbered and all."

"That's just it, they did real well. Better than I thought they do. Blaze especially."

"Well you are their trainer and flight lead. I would think that you of all people would be glad for their progress."

"Nagase and Davenport have talent, But its Johnson that frightens me."

"Why's that?"

"He's too good, he was better than me up there. He flew right at an enemy group, head on, and destroyed two planes in one sweep. It was incredible, most veteran aces I know, could never do that."

"Sounds like the nugget is better than expected. That is a little hard to believe though."

"Ask Davenport and Nagase, they'll tell you, this is no joke. I nearly crapped myself when I saw it."

"He sounds like he flies as well as he plays football. That's good for us, means he wont be shot down so easily."

"Kevin Johnson, is that he same Kevin Johnson who was a candidate for the Hiesman Trophy last season?"

"The same one."

"I made 100 bucks on that Diamond Bowl game of his. Seems strange that he decided to stay in the service instead of going pro. He was predicted to go as the fourth overall draft pick right?"

"Something like that. He was the number one voted back in college last season."

"He's just scary. Hardly ever talks unless I order him too. Its hard to tell exactly what's he's thinking. May God help those who fly against him."

"By the way, what did high command say when you reported to them on your return?"

"The usual, that the whole affair was top secret and that we should not speak a word of it to anyone."

_Back in the pilot lounge… _Blaze was sitting on a chair, resting from his flight. A few other nuggets were in the room, but they were too busy talking about the fight. "Two air battles in two days, I thought this was a time of peace."

"Excuse me; were you one of those pilots who went up with Bartlett today?"

Kevin looked up and saw that journalist Genette standing there, notebook in hand. He witnessed the battle from the base, and was prohibited to leave the base by Perault for reasons of national security.

"Yah, I was." answered Blaze.

"Was that your first real battle? What was going through your mind?"

Kevin gave a sort of smirk and answered "Yah that was my first battle and I was thinking of not getting killed."

"I understand if this is a bit threatening to you. So how about we keep this confidential, just you and me?"

Blaze just looked at him with his same emotionless face he always had. With everything that happened in the last two days, he felt he was a good idea to get it off his chest. "What would you think? Up their in the endless blue sky, you know its kill or be killed. You just let instinct take over and hope you come back alive. That's what I was thinking. About getting everybody back in one piece. Its not easy to accept that you took a life in something you don't understand, but that's how it is. That's the life of a soldier, you have to leave emotion at the door and let loose. If not, then trouble usually finds its way into the equation."

Genette heard all this and kind of got a better understanding into Kevin's mind, even if it was only a small piece of it. Kevin seemed to be on the ball, this was an unexpected event which would have ended in dead men one way or another. You just have to hope your not one of them.

Later that evening, Chopper was playing Frisbee with his dog, Kirk, outside with Bartlett and Genette watching in front of Pops who was working on an engine of a cargo plane. Nagase was sitting on the couch in the pilots lounge, watching from a distance, and Blaze was on the other side of the base, collecting his thoughts.

As for the battle earlier, it was covered up by Sand Island personnel. It was the first military act of aggression by Osea since the war fifteen years ago, and it was best to hide it from the public. There was no need to get the public worried about another war.

"Why do they even bother reprimanding me anymore? I know I'm gonna be stuck at Captain forever."

"Who do you think's covering up the battle?"

"Listen… The only thing across that ocean is Murska Air Base. That's Yuktobanian territory."

"But haven't we been allies with the Yukes since the war fifteen years ago?"

"Yeah. That's why we got people working their asses off trying to confirm what the hell's going on over there. I bet they've got hotlines ringing off the hook somewhere upstairs. The government doesn't want to get the public riled up with all this, you know? But, it doesn't matter, soldiers like us are too stupid t think for ourselves, so we just gotta keep our mouths shut when they tell us to. I feel kinda bad for you actually."

"It's all right. I get to be with you guys."

"Captain's probably hating this more than anybody."

"Hm?"

He used to have a lady friend over in Yuktobania."

"Ahh, that's just an old war wound now."

In that same hangar was an F-5 Tiger, the same plane Bartlett flew 15 years ago in the Belkan War. Painted on it's nose was the card, the ace of hearts. It represented the heartbreak he felt in that same war that still hadn't heal, even after fifteen years.


	12. Changing of the Guard

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat.

_September 28, 2005, midnight… _Kevin sits on his bed, contemplating on the events in the last 24 hours. Of all the madness that happened, the lives lost. The reasons for this sudden war were unclear to him. Why now, after fifteen years of peace? This wasn't quite what he had in mind when he joined the service, it shouldn't have been like this at all. In that short a time, all hell broke loose.

Kevin remembered the mission; it should have been so easy. Destroy all UAV's before they returned to the spy vessel without destroying the ship, that's all. That was the only easy part, but they never stay that easy for long. All of a sudden enemy fighters come out from the same vector as before, shades of what happened three days ago. They were called back to retreat by the Captain for fear of how many enemy planes there could have been. The mission was already complete, no reason to spill blood. But Chopper couldn't hang in there with the squad; the enemy was right on his tail. They had no other choice, engage and destroy all enemies. After the intense dogfight, they all survived, with fresh kills for each to add to their kill record, they were not flying like nuggets anymore, but everyone forgot about the vessel; everyone except Captain Bartlett. Nagase got close to the spy plane and it opened fire with a SAM. She couldn't shake it and Kevin could remember his mind racing, "No God please, don't take another from me. Please!" His prayer was answered, but not in the way he wanted.

Bartlett was able to get the missile to lock on to his jet and led it away from his squadron, but couldn't dodge the missile. The damage wasn't that serious, but he couldn't maintain his plane. Captain Bartlett then said the words that would stick with the nuggets forever. "These things are always replicable. Its getting the crew back alive that counts." He landed in the water with his three wingmen circling over him to provide cover in case there were anymore enemies, looking for their chance to strike. But they were called back over the radio, and ordered to return to base to rearm and refuel. The three didn't want to leave their Captain like this, but didn't have a choice. They were given a direct order. They just hopped the rescue helicopter would arrive soon to pick him up. And over the radio again, Thunderhead said the words that neither of them wanted to hear, "The enemy has declared war on us."

"ENEMY? WAR? What the hell is going on?" asked a pissed of Chopper to one of the mechanics.

"We got to get these planes fully ready for combat, there's a battle going on not too far away and they need your air support." Answered one of the crew.

"But who? Why?" continued Chopper.

They were back in the sky again, but with one plane less. The same question was on each of their minds. With the Captain gone, who would take command? They made their way to St. Hewlett naval port where Thunderhead gave them the in-flight briefing on the situation. The port was getting bombed like crazy, and their job was to protect the aircraft carrier Kestrel as it tried to make its escape into open waters. It as directly after the briefing that Thunderhead designated Nagase to lead the squadron. She was the most combat experienced of the three after all, and hoped that would be enough to accomplish the mission. But to everyone's surprise, she declined the position and gave the lead to her tail man, Blaze. She didn't feel like she could handle being the flight lead, but she trusted Blaze would. Kevin didn't reject the offer either; someone had to take charge of this or they wouldn't be much good. Blaze closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "Time for all that government education to pay off."

The battle was one of the most intense things any of the three ever encountered. Vessels on fire, men dieing, fear and desperation all around. The Kestrel was soon in sight after Wardog Squadron bagged four enemy fighters. It was preparing its leave with the few other ships still intact and sea ready. The bombers made drastic runs to sink it, but not a hit was taken on the carrier, Wardog Squadron, along with the help of Captain Marcus Snow, shot down every enemy fighter in the bay and continued to escort the small fleet to safety. While flying over what looked like charred earth and muggy waters, the squad saw the dismal sight of dead bodies of their own countrymen floating along the waves. The sight made Edge all tense in her body, while Chopper was ready to throw up, he couldn't take that awful vision. Blaze didn't like it any better, and it fueled him from inside.

As they reached open waters, the Yukes started to form a naval blockade to stop the fleet and sent Nimrod bombers to destroy the Osean ships. There were just four Osean planes that were standing between victory and defeat for the 3rd Osean Naval Fleet. Blaze shot down all three enemy Nimrods with a flurry of bullets and well timed missile shots. Edge and Swordsman mopped up the remaining Yuke fighters, while Chopper and Blaze set their sights on the enemy ships. With the air filled with black smoke and the scent of burning metal throughout the open sea, the ocean floor was now a graveyard for the Yuke forces. All Osean ships that made it out with the Kestrel were safe, along with the carrier. The first official battle of the war had ended, with Osea getting the first victory.

"Hey Kid, how's it fell being the flight lead?" asked a sudden cheerful Chopper.

"It feels rather good actually." Answered Blaze in a rare happy tone.

"I thought you would." "One, two, three planes. Count them up man, we're all back safe. I can't wait to tell the Captain when they pluck him out of the ocean."

But only bad news awaited the triumphant Wardogs. Captain Bartlett was not found by the rescue helicopter when it arrived. The enemy spy vessel was also gone when they arrived too, making it seem a little suspicious in Perault's eyes. This came as a morale killer for the squad. Deep inside, Nagase blamed herself for the Captain's disappearance, if she was more careful, Bartlett would be here with them telling them that they were too damn cocky. Chopper didn't take it too well either, he secretly had a deep respect for Bartlett. He seemed to be the only one on the base besides Pops, who knew what he was doing. Blaze just remained silent, not letting on any human emotion in him. But he felt hurt inside; another person who made contact with him was possibly dead. He thought and wondered more and more if he was actually cursed.

_Later that night… _Genette was sitting in the lower bunk of his assigned room with the Labrador, Kirk, lying near the door. Just then, his "temporary" roommate entered and went over to the radio on the desk. He fiddled around with it until he got it on a specific station, and sure enough, they were playing his favorite song "Face on the Coin" as he took a seat on the sofa across from his new journalist friend. The two talked about Bartlett and his past about his service in the Belkan War and his romance with a Yuke Recon Major back then who broke his heart. Chopper also made clear his dislike for the Base Commander and his interrogations about Bartlett's disappearance. They even briefly talked about the future of the squadron, it looked like blaze's commanding days were up with Lieutenant Ford possibly coming down to take over. That's when the warning alarms sounded meaning one thing; the base was under attack.

"An air raid, give me a break man."

The three Wardogs made it to their planes that were sitting on the tarmac while enemy planes flew overhead, taking out the other mild Osean fighters. They made their way to the runway, where one by one, all three jets took off into the black night. When they got to the same altitude as the enemy, they were once again the only available Osean force to stop the enemy. They didn't need an in-flight briefing to know what to do, destroy all the bombers before the base is leveled.

The three fighters managed to make quick work to the first three bombers and their air support; they even got some encouragement from Pops about the maintenance of their planes. From up in the sky, the three could see Pops' plane taking off in an old hunker of an aircraft. They also saw a fourth f-5 Tiger leaving the hangar. On its nose was the ace of hearts that symbolized Bartlett's heartbreak fifteen years ago. It was Bartlett's spare plane and Wardog couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Who the hell took that out?"

"This is Private Airman First Class Grimm."

Blaze remembered who Grimm was. Hans Grimm, a rookie pilot who was receiving flight training on the base with Bartlett, while learning to maintain the jets as well from Pops. Blaze never said a word to him, but he was glad about getting the extra backup.

Grim explained how he was helping the mechanics and how he seemed to be the only available pilot. Chopper was bashing him about not even finishing pilot replacement training, but was ordered to shut up by Blaze. Four Osean planes in the air were better than three. Grim was heading to the runway when radar was picking up more enemy aircraft heading their way. Edge believed in what Blaze said about four planes were better than three and assured Grimm that she would cover him.

"Kid, Grimm's coming up. I'm not sure he can handle this… Are we just gonna watch?"

"No way in hell Chopper, he's going to need our help. Find an enemy and keep him away from Grimm!"

"Roger that Kid."

The three Wardogs watched Grimm like hawks and fought like tigers to keep the enemies off him. Grimm couldn't believe it, he was entering his first ever battle. The three nuggets were able to keep the heat off Grimm long enough for him to take off. Now there were four wings over Sand Island as its guardians, and they shot down the enemy bombers with ease as the Yuke's plans were coming apart. Things then appeared quitter, as Lieutenant Ford was over Sand Island air space. He was taking over Wardog Squadron and demanding clearance to land, but was denied by the control tower for the battle going on. He even received some attitude, though not surprising, from Chopper who never really paid much respect to authority. Ford was making a threat to write Davenport up, but he would never do it. His plane was shot down as a final wave of bombers entered their airspace.

"Forget about Ford for now. Our responsibility is destroying those bombers. Full attack formation, we're bringing them down." Said Blaze as the four jets flew off to meet their enemies.

There were also four Yuke escort fighters, but they didn't stand much of a chance. As the battle waged on, everybody, including Blaze, saw how far Archer had come in his training. He kept the aircraft straight and was doing some pretty good flying, better than what was expected of him. The three bombers were sot down and the remaining Yuke forces fled with their tails between their legs. Once again, Osea had triumphed an almost certain defeat. The four planes landed with a number of base personal waiting to congratulate them on their efforts, especially for Grimm. Genette got an almost perfect shot of the four pilots with Chopper putting Grim in a headlock while Nagase gave a smile and Blaze looking on. It was almost perfect, except that Chopper's arm blocked Blaze's face in the shot. But Genette though it was better since Blaze is really a man of mystery. The base was filled with celebration for the victory and for Grimm's first mission and confirmed kill. Pops could be seen putting one arm around Grimm and another around Chopper, cracking some half-drunk joke about the two. The base was damaged to an exempt, but it all could be repaired. The war had just begun and so far the score was Osea 2, Yuktobania 0.


	13. Three Stages of Hell

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat, but I do own a car.

October 4_, 2010... _Blaze is standing on the beach of Sand Island alone. The water sweeps over his feet as it comes to shore, but then recedes and repeats it's never ending bombardment. He contemplates the events over the past few days, what a hell he thought to himself. It was about two weeks since the war began and already major losses have been taken on both sides. Many men have already been killed for reasons unknown to him. All he knew was that he was told that Yuktobania was their enemy and that they must be defeated. That didn't sit well for him or any of his squadron, but they didn't have a choice, whenever battle happened, they were called in to fight. Nothing more, nothing less.

_September 30, 2010… _The squadron was once again in the air with four planes, but a new member and captain. With Bartlett still missing, headquarters made Blaze the new captain of Wardog squadron because of his impressive leadership in the last two battles. "Don't think I'll be kissing your ass because of this Kev. It just means you're another dumb authority figure that I have zero respect for." joked Chopper a few days ago. Blaze didn't care, it just meant that he had more responsibility and a larger purpose to protect. Grimm joined the squadron and took Blaze's place as the tail man, while Edge and Chopper remained his number one and two wingmen.

They were over the Eaglin Straits now with three battle-ready carriers below them. Wardogs mission was to escort the carriers as the rendezvoused at the straits. "Easies mission in the world." Commented Chopper. Blaze didn't think so. To him, nothing was ever easy and this would be no exception. The squad was given orders to hold over their respected carriers and await clearance to refuel which pissed off Chopper, but brought some humor that help shed light on the so far boring assignment. But that all changed with a few sudden dots on the radar, enemy planes.

It seemed that a number of fighter groups from Yuktobania had arrived and it was their mission to defend the carriers at all cost. Wardog met with each fighter group that seemed to attack from all sides, but thanks to Wardogs efforts and flying skills, as well as the efforts of the naval air force that sprang into action, no carrier was lost. At least not to enemy fighters, Wardog Squadron and Captain Marcus Snow were ahead of the fleet as they mopped up the remaining enemy fighters and were about to head back when the warning lights flashed.

"Enemy missile coming in." screamed a crew of the Buzzard. Heading for their direction was a missile that soon exploded, letting out it's destructive force like a storm. A large flash could be seen by the crew members of the other carriers and the pilots who were fortunately not in the area. All the fighters that were near the Buzzard were falling like smoking flies and the Buzzard started to sink.

"What the hell happened?" screamed Archer.

"I don't know! Everything below 5,000 feet was just annihilated!" responded Swordsman.

"Shit, what the hell is going on?" asked Blaze to himself.

"It was a ballistic missile; it just came out of nowhere… Damn it, another one is coming." said Thunderhead.

"Owe shit, that's not good. Any suggestions?" asked Chopper.

"Yeah, get above 5,000 feet and stay there unless you want to end up a pile of burning steel." Responded Snow.

Chopper couldn't believe what h was hearing, enemies this far inland. Blaze was thinking the same thing, but right now that wasn't on his mind. "You heard him, get above 5,000 feet now. That's a direct order." Ordered Blaze and all of Wardog followed without hesitation.

"10 seconds to impact. 8,7… 3,3,1." Counted Snow. And sure enough there was a nother flash of light and the sounds of people screaming over the radio. When the flash died down, the vulture was going down to the sea floor just like the buzzard, but remarkably the Kestrel was still afloat. At the end of the whole affair, the only survivors where the crew of the Kestrel, Snow, and Wardog. There was no way for the squadron to refuel and were ordered to head straight for Hierlarcke base. The flight there was very quite as hardly a word was spoken. Kevin remained his usual, quite self as he thought of how the Yukes possible knew what they were doing and how they got so far into their country.

At Hierlarcke, they were met by a large number of rookie pilots who were eager to hear the stories of their earlier battles. Apparently, the article Genette wrote about them had made it that far which sort of made the squad instant celebrities. But they also received orders to take these nuggets back to Sand Island to strengthen the defense force. But for now, Chopper gladly told the nuggets of their enemy encounters in front of the fireplace, with Nagase standing next to him looking embarrassed. Grimm took a seat as he tried to rest his weary body and Kevin stood right next to the fireplace taking in Choppers stories and enjoying the short peace he and his squad were now having.

But the peace was soon over as they took the rookies up with them and guided them to each base to refuel since none of the nuggets had ever practiced midair refueling. But, by some chance or act of God or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time, they had an interesting stay at McNealy Air Base. Enemy Yuke forces were attempting to take out the mass driver that was to launch the new laser cannon to the now descending Arkbird, and Wardog was the only Osean force, close enough to do anything about it. They went up, met the enemy, and were able to protect the mass driver long enough for the laser to launch. The launch was an overall success thanks to the actions of Wardog Squadron, but no rest would come to them as they refueled and went u once again with the nuggets as they now headed for Sand Island.

_October 4, 2010, 10:07a.m… _It appeared that the Yukes were attempting t take Sand Island with a full frontline amphibian assault. This would also be the first real battle the nuggets would experience. Blaze, Edge, and Chopper agreed that this mission maybe a bit too extreme for the rookies and tried to protest the decision, but to no avail. Wardog went up with three brand new F-18 Hornets and the nuggets as they met the ships head-on. Before any fighting began though, a nugget named Fredrick Reinhart, callsign Lancer, asked Blaze if he ever got scared in battle. This question actually humored him a little, since he expected the nugget to be scared. But Blaze truthfully answered the question saying "Yeah, we all do." This seemed to give Fredrick some new confidence in himself as the Wardogs accelerated to meet the enemy first. The strategy they cooked up was simple, take out as many enemies ahead as possible to make it easier for the nuggets. It all probably would have worked if it wasn't for the sudden surprise of the Yuke underwater carrier, Scinfaxi. But it was countered by the sudden interference of the Arkbird which shot down two ballistic missiles with a laser of blue light which sort of captivated the Osean pilots. All except for Blaze, which though it was another obstacle to fly around, and its accuracy made Blaze like it even less.

The overall battle seemed to be going well for Osea as the fighters took out a number of helicopters, hovercraft, and some ships, but that all changed in a sudden heartbeat. The Scinfaxi fired several ballistic missiles, and to everyone's worst fear, the Arkbird couldn't take them all out. One was going to hit.

"Al fighters pull up now, above 5,000 feet." Ordered Blaze.

"Lets go kids, come on." Urged Chopper.

"Nuggets, you got to pull up." Order Nagase.

But the rookies couldn't get that kind of altitude and were all killed when the missile burst. The screams of the young pilots could be heard on the radio, similar to those on the carriers a few days ago. Blaze gritted his teeth in rage, but then controlled himself immediately. He knew the success of their defense was to destroy the Scinfaxi.

"Wardog, this battle will be pointless unless we take out that sub. Disperse and locate the carrier and destroy it." Ordered Blaze over the intercom, which was agreed by the other squadron pilots. But the orders weren't necessary as the Arkbird picked up the Scinfaxi on radar and fired upon it.

"The Scinfaxi is surfacing." Said Edge. And through the surface it rose like a great beast. Sending out it's aircraft to do battle while preparing the next wave of ballistic missiles. Wardog meet the planes had on, with Blaze putting all of his attention on the sub and firing the LASM's. During their attacks, Wardog also had to climb altitude to avoid the ballistics and then continued their assault. And through the constant strikes and dodging, Blaze delivered the blow that gave the Arkbird the shot to destroy the monster, thus brining the sub to the bottom of the Ceres Ocean.

Wardog squadron returned with a huge celebration at the base with wine and whisky. But before the fun could really begin, each man and woman held up their drink and gave a moment of silence to the ones lost thanks to the Scinfaxi monster, and the party picked up once again.

During the party, Kevin was able to slip out unnoticed and headed to the beach were he stood on the sand, allowing the water to wash over his feet. Staring into the infinite ocean, at the enemy that was now Yuktobania, wondering to himself in peace. A stone brushed by his foot and he picked it up and threw it, skipping the water until its momentum ended and it sank below the water.

"What a hell that we ended up in." said Kevin in a voice below a whisper. Unknown to him, his wingman, Kei Nagase, was watching him from a distance. Wondering what he was thinking. Was it about the war, or the young men who had just died, or was it just a habit of his to be alone from everyone. She then turned around and returned to the party, leaving Kevin in his peace. Telling herself that this was normal to him.


	14. Political Maze

Chapter Fourteen

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat.

_October 22, 2010_… Wardog Squadron is in the briefing room, waiting to be briefed on their next assignment. Things have finally quieted down and there had been no enemy sightings within the last three weeks. The squad had only done some recon work around Sand Island since the last attack with no sightings of the enemy. That would normally be a good thing, but the higher ups didn't think so. They believed that things were too quite for their own good and that something needs to be done. And that was why the 108th Squadron was sitting around in front of a projector with Captain Hamilton monitoring them.

"So what's going on now? Are we going to actually do something productive for a change." Complained Chopper.

"You'll find out soon enough." Answered Hamilton.

"Well that's not soon enough for me Jack. All we've been doing is sitting on our asses and waiting for the Yukes to mount another attack. We have to do something about this man. You never win by playing defense, you eventually have to go to the offensive some time, am I right?" said Chopper.

"Be quite Second Lieutenant or Colonial Perault will bite your head off." Whispered Grimm.

"I don't care if that fat bastard can hear me or not. I know why we're here, they've got some half ass mission for us where the intelligence is going to screw up and probably going to get half of us killed. Am I right Captain?" continued Chopper.

Captain Hamilton didn't respond to these insults as he just stared at Chopper.

"Woe man, don't you be going Blaze on me now. One quite, weird guy on this base is bad enough." Went on Chopper.

Nagase wanted to hit Chopper for that and Grim moved into a seat that was farther away from the Second Lieutenant. Blaze on the other hand just sat there as quite as Hamilton as if he didn't hear anything. A few moments later, Colonial Perault came into the room and the briefing got underway. The mission was simple enough, the brass believed that a small eemy force may have infiltrated the country and it was their job to investigate. They would be split up into two groups with Nagase and Kevin in one group and Chopper and Grim in the other group. As the pilots made their way to their planes, Chopper noticed that Nagase gave him a look that wasn't pleasant.

"What's wrong Kei?" asked Chopper.

"You're such a jerk sometimes." Respond Kei in a sort of angry tone.

"What did I do?"

Moments later, the four wings were in the air and heading straight for Akerson Hill. Chopper and Grimm separated from the rest of the group and headed north, while Kei and Kevin continued to the southern end of Akerson Hill.

"Blaze, can you hear me?"

"Yeah I can hear you fine Nagase."

"I want to say I'm sorry, for what Chopper said about you. It was a low shot and completely uncalled for."

"You don't have to apologize for that motor mouth. He is what he is and nothing can change that."

"But still, he had no right saying those hurtful things."

"He should apologize for being my roommate back at Hierlarcke. I at least deserve that."

Nagase laughed at hearing that. But she was also surprised by it at the same time. It was the first time in her life that she actually heard Kevin crack a joke. He had always said little with none of it ever being funny for as long as she known him. But it still felt good to hear that he had a sense of humor. For the rest of the flight though, both pilots were very silent as they scoped Akerson Hill for anything suspicious. That was until the Motormouth interrupted.

"Everything id fine over here. How about on your end?"

"Everything is clear so far. Nothing to report… wait a minute. There's something on the radar. Edge and I will check it out. Stand by."

The two F-20's then flew cautiously at the target to discover that it was a 747 passenger airplane. It had also appeared to be trying to contact them through the radio with the sudden static as the pilots tried to tune it to the correct frequency.

"We… fired… radar…." Was what the two pilots heard until they got on to the right frequency?"

"Oh good, some planes finally."

"Unidentified plane, this is restricted airspace. What is your coarse heading presently?" asked Blaze.

"This is mother Goose One. We are on a top secret mission and are heading for the country of North Point. Unfortunately, due to the security of our mission, our aircraft isn't reading a friendly signal and were accidentally fired upon by our own SAMs. We managed to avoid the attack, but our radar was taken out so we're flying blind right now." Reported the transport plane.

"Blaze we have a mission update for you." Said AWACS. "You and your squadron are to escort Mother Goose One and lead it safely through the air defenses. Do you understand?"

"Roger that Thunderhead. Edge, looks like we have to do some babysitting here. Mother Goose One, can you hear me?"

"Yes we hear you clearly."

"I've just been ordered to guide you through the defenses. Stay on my tail and we have no problem. You got that?"

"Loud and clear."

Blaze went ahead of the transport plane and prepared for the upcoming maze. When he entered the antiaircraft firing airspace, he entered heading Northeast at slow speed to let the plane follow his movements easier. Edge stayed close to the 747, eyeing it's position and warning how close they were to some firing areas. Secretly, it was one of Kevin's scariest moments because one false move and others would suffer the consequences and he wasn't about to let that happen. He led Mother Goose One through the death maze, and after a few dramatic minutes, was successfully out of the firing zone and putting distance between them. Unfortunately, some unwanted chatter came through the radio on their way out. It was the chatter of Yuke fighters.

"If we bag this one, they won't just give us a medal. They'll build a statue in our honor."

"Pilots we ask for your continued escort. Our cargo is of the utmost importance."

"Alright, Edge we're going straight at the fighters head on. Contact Chopper and Grimm and tell them to get their asses over here now."

There were two Yuke Mig fighters heading straight for the transport plane, with two Osean jets flying to meet them halfway. Behind the Migs were two more Osean aircraft. The fighting was fierce as the Migs and Osean's squared off in dogfights. It seemed that the Wardog Squadron had things under control until the radio chatter got deadly over the radio from Mother Goose One.

"What, get back in your seat…" Shots were heard over the radio and it appeared a struggle was going on. After a minute of then silence, another voice came over the airwaves. A sort of familiar voice.

"Hello!"

"What's going on in there? What are you guys caring? Is it something dangerous? Who is this?" asked a bewildered Chopper.

"I guess you can call me the cargo of this here plane."

"Are you okay Mr. Cargo?" asked Nagase.

"Yes, I'm fine, but the pilot was shot. There was a spy on board and he opened fire. My secretary, Tommy, is taking the controls but he's never done this before."

Edge was then trying to go over some of the controls while fighting at the same time. As the battle waged on, more and more Yuke fighters appeared. It soon became a real furball over the skies of Akerson Hill.

"Thank you miss… With the lovely voice?" asked the Cargo.

"It's Nagase, sir."

"That's a lovely name."

"And I'm Chopper."

"That's a fine name too."

"I like you man."

The battle ended with the remaining Migs bugging out as the four Sand Island wings still airborne. But another problem then presented itself.

"The plane is going down. It's going to crash." Said Grimm as he watched Mother Goose One loose altitude.

"Shit, they can't stay up here for much longer." Said Chopper.

"Mother Goose One, you're going to have to make an emergency landing right here and now." Said Blaze.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Cargo.

"We have no other choice. Drop your airspeed and let out the landing gear. We'll make an airstrip for you, land there."

And the four pilots then aimed and took out some windmills in a mostly clear area to help show the way for he plane. The young secretary inside tried his best to decrease his speed as the plane fell lower to the ground. The pilots along with Cargo tried to cheer him on as the plane hit the ground and rolled to a stop just a few feet from a clearing of trees.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Nagase.

"Yes. That was actually a pretty smooth landing."

"I still believe in your promised bridge of peace."

"It's still possible, thanks to the bird."

"Did you really have to… use that white bird in the war."

"Yes, the bird has us on equal footing now, but I want a quick solution to this so I'm trying to get to North Point."

"To communicate in a neutral country to ease the tension."

"Exactly."

"So I can still believe in you. Thank you sir."

"Damn it we're running low on fuel." Said Chopper.

"Wardog Squadron this is the 8492 Squadron. We saw your actions on our radar. We'll stick around until a rescue team arrives."

"Thanks a lot guys. We should probably head back." Said Nagase. He didn't know why, but heading back to base, he had a bad feeling.

Back at the base, they got a job well done from some of the superiors and even Captain Hamilton came to shake their hands for what they accomplished. Later on in the loiunge, Blaze was on a chair reaing the newspaper and thinking about the events that happened today when Chopper came over to him.

"Hey Kev, got a minute?"

"What is it Chopper?"

"I came to apologize for what I said earlier in the briefing room. I guess I was sort of out of line."

"Is that it?"

"Well yeah, what do you want me to do? Go on my knees and beg for you forgiveness?"

"That would be a start."

"hey man, I'm just trying to… Wait a minute! Did you just make a joke? You did you just cracked a joke at me. So you actually are human after all."

"And your still talking why?" said Blaze as he got up and left. He still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. What could it hve been.

It wouldn't be until later that Kevin Johnson would realize that he was used by the enemy.

(I know the dialogue isn't exactly from the game, but I'm doing this all from memory so give me a break.).


	15. Pigskin Heroics

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat 5. (Cocks the shotgun).

September 4, 2010, O9 hundred hours. "Lieutenant Kevin Johnson, commanding officer of the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron. You and your squadron are here at this hearing for the charges of attacking an innocent Yuktobanian facility full of civilians. This hearing however is not to accuse or assign blame for that tragic incident, it is just to hear you and your squadron's point of view on the matter. So please, Lieutenant, give this court your side of the affair." Asked High Judge Nathaniel Mitchell. Kevin and the other members of Wardog Squadron were away from the tiny isolated island, and in the military courthouse of the Osean capital, Oured. They were to come to this hearing to just give their side of what happened in Yuktobania on September 2, 2010.

Kevin told his story to the higher officers. About how he and his squad were attacking enemy transport planes. About the radio interference by the 767 jamming craft and the weird transmissions he had heard about the attack. The rest of the hearing went as it would have been expected. Each pilot was interrogated by the higher brass one by one as each told their story. After Chopper finished his hearing, ending with a few choice words about the situation, they were placed in a quarantined room with a large table, some chairs and benches, and a water cooler. Kevin was sitting at the end of one bench, with Chopper pacing around the room. Grim stayed near the water cooler with a sense of confusion on his face, and Nagase sat at the table, staring down at her hands. The entire room was quite, with the only real sounds coming from the water cooler and the clock. The silence was however broken by Grimm, throwing his water cup across the room, shouting "What the hell is going on? We didn't attack any civilians."

"Calm down Grimm! None of us are happy with this, but there really isn't anything we can do about it." Said Kei.

"And that's what's pissing me off." Yelled Chopper. "We know we didn't attack any college, but those stiff ass higher ups don't care. They need a scapegoat for this mess and we're it. This is bullshit man. What's next, their going to blame us for Bartlett's disappearance?"

Everything was then silent again. Nagase looked back down at the table, while Chopper turned around in frustration. Grimm remained where he was, staring out the window. As this all happened, Kevin straightened up his posture and said "You do have a point for once Chopper." Everyone then turned to where Kevin was sitting with surprised looks on their faces. They weren't used to him admitting that Chopper was right. "The judges don't care about our innocence. They just want to blame someone quickly for this to end the matter as cleanly as possible. And we were at the wrong place at the wrong time. That being said, this just seems suspicious to me."

"How so Captain?" asked Grimm

"I don't know, but I got a bad feeling. The best thing we can do right now is be careful."

"Be careful of what? You're talking as if there's some big conspiracy against us." Said Chopper.

"I don't know, but the attack on the college and us being the closest ones to it doesn't seem right. I just hope this is paranoia talking." Kevin did not like the situation one bit, but deep inside, he knew the worst was yet to come.

When the Osean forces first invaded the Yuketobanian mainland, Wardog Squadron was called to offer air support for the ground troops. There, the Oseans met tough resistance from the defending Yukes, but in the end it was not enough, to stop the triumphant invaders. In that battle the ground forces got an exclusive first look at the airborne guardians who would support them in future operations. It was also in the invasion that, the Wardogs learned of Grimm's older brother and that he was part of the amphibious operation. Another man was also down on the ground with him. A man who was also a sort of brother to one of the pilots. But now the Wardog Squadron had to get through their private court marshalling before they could ever fly as guardians again. But fortunately before the trial could continue, unforeseen events were about to start which gave the Squadron its one chance to escape. An officer entered into the room with a not so happy look on his face. In fact he looked mad as hell.

"This has got to be your lucky day. As of this moment, your court marshal is on hold."

"What?" said Chopper, Nagase, and Grimm.

"Yeah you heard me correctly; your hearing is temporarily suspended."

"But why would that be?" asked Grimm.

'As of ten minutes ago, our intelligence believes that Yuktobania is preparing a massive attack at Apito International Airport. Also, there has just been an attack at Bana City by a Yuktobanian commando force using a special nerve gas. Not to mention our current air defense force right now is very thin and we have been ordered to send you four out to eliminate the threats."

"Then what are we waiting for, lets get into the air and out of this rat hole." Said Chopper.

"It's not that easy Lieutenant. The attacks are too spread out to just send you up to take care of everything. You have to decide whether to protect either the airport or Bana City. The other forces will handle whatever you don't pick."

"What? We have to choose, that's bogus man." Complained Chopper.

"I've got an idea since the idea of making a decision looks to be too hard for you. Why don't we let this choose for you?" And out of his pocket he took an Osean quarter. "Heads, you get the airport. Tails, you get the Yuke terrorists. It's that easy." Said the officer. He then tossed it straight into the air, the lives of many where now being decided by a thin piece of metal. The coin flipped while in mid air as it ascended into the air and plummeted back down to the ground. As it hit the tile floor it slid and rolled on the ground and stopped right at Kevin's feet.

"So what did it land on, Kid?" asked Chopper.

"Heads! We've got the airport." Answered Kevin.

_Later that night… _The four pilots flew over the civilian airstrip in their F-20 Tiger Sharks high in the night sky. Over businesses and homes that were unaware of what would be taking place soon.

"So far things look pretty quite over here. Maybe we actually got lucky for once and intel got it all wrong again." Said Chopper.

"With our luck, the Scinfaxi is probably in the bay right now." Answered Grim.

"That's not funny Grim, if the Scinfaxi is in the bay, a lot of civilians could easily be killed and we couldn't do anything to stop it." Responded Blaze.

"I'm sorry Captain, I wasn't trying to be funny. It's just that nothing has ever gone the way that it should have with us lately."

"I won't argue that, but it would be very stupid by the Yukes to bring that monster here now. If the Scinfaxi did surface and launch ballistic missiles, the civilian casualties would be in the thousands and cause a worldwide incident. It would be like committing suicide with every other country turning their backs on Yuktobania, making it the new Belka." Said Blaze.

"Your right about that Kid, but do the Yukes know that?" asked Chopper.

"Lets just pray that they do. I don't think any nation can survive another war like the Belkan War fifteen years ago." Said Blaze.

Suddenly a loud pitched beeping noise was heard with a flashing red light on the cockpit system lit up. "Warning Wardog Squadron, enemy aircraft picked up by radar. Heading east toward the airport. Over."

"Well, it's show time gang." Joked Chopper.

The four Osean fighters made their way, and in little time sanitized the area of all Yuke fighters. But more were reported heading from the east toward their target. Unknown to Wardog Squadron and AWACS, things would take an unexpected turn.

"Blaze, Fox 2… One down."

"This isn't making much sense?" said Grim.

"What do you mean, we're winning. That's supposed to be a good thing." Answered Chopper.

"I mean this just seems too easy. None of these guys are making any kind of aggressive run at the airport. They've just been engaging us this whole time." Said Grim.

"Grim has a point. They haven't even fired a shot at the ground yet. What's going on? Is the airport not the target?" asked Nagase.

Wardog, warning. The planes, their not the threat. The Yukes… How did this happen… They've got tanks. I repeat, the Yukes have tanks on the ground." Reported AWACS.

And sure enough, coming out of the landed C-5 transport planes were tanks bearing the markings of Yuketobania.

"Crap. Crap. Damn it. Here we go again, the plan's coming apart once again and we have to deal with it. This is starting to become habit with these things man." Complained Chopper.

"Those tanks wont need five minutes to turn Apito inside out. We have to stop them now." Said Nagase.

"That's gonna have to be the plan. Disperse and consecrate your missiles on the tanks and C-5's, they take top priority as of now." Ordered Blaze.

"We may not have enough missiles left to fight both the tanks and enemy planes?' said Grim.

"Just don't miss. I'm also lifting the restrictions on the SAAM's, so if you get the shot, take it."

As the night wore on filled with fire and explosions on the and over the tiny island, Apito was a red hot battle zone with only four fighters taking on over two dozen enemy units. The people inside Apito looked on the battle through the thin glass, in fear that this was going to be their final moments. But at the same time, little by little, the civilians could see the courage and tenacity of the Wardog Squadron as they fought on the enemy for them. It was an effort worthy of medals and recognition, even by the highest of ranking officers. And as the fight came to a close and the remaining Yuke fighters retreated toward the ocean, four Osean fighters remained in the night sky and Apito airport still stood with minimal damage and no civilian casualties.

"Wardogs, remaining enemy fighters are bugging out. We also got conformation from Apitio Airport that no civilians were hurt in the scuffle. We also got news from Bana City that the terrorists involved in the gas attack are falling back as well. Looks like they didn't want to fight without their friends. Good work, head back to the carrier and call it a night." Reported AWACS.

_Later that same night on the Osean Carrier Orion…_ Nagase, Chopper, and Grim are relaxing in the pilot lounge watching Sports Talk on television. All three were trying to rest after both the battle and the debriefing. After the usual debriefing occurred, a fax arrived from the justice department for the four pilots.

_To the four pilots of the Sand Island 118 Tactical Fighter Squadron._

_After hearing each of your statements in court and your current actions in the defense of Apito International Airport, as well as your squadron's impressive service record in this war. We have decided to grant a partial pardon to each of you and allow each to return to the service of the Osean Air Force as of this moment. However certain conditions must now be enforced upon each pilot so as another incident does not occur in the future. These conditions will first be made toward the current captain of Wardog Squadron and thus then to the rest of Wardog Suadron. These conditions will stay in effect until times are deemed unnecessary by the Review board. _

_Sincerely,_

_ Captain Vince McMullen of the Osean Department of Defense_

So now the three pilots eagerly waited for their Captain to return to give them the news of what was going to happen. When he finally arrived, he actually had a sort of smug look on his face.

"So what's going to happen now Captain?" asked Grim.

"Nothing serious. I have to fill out a report after ever sortie with about ten people verifying everything. Also their going to check pour mail and record our phone calls randomly. It's not like we're hiding something." Answered Kevin.

"That's it? We're getting off easy here, but I'm sure our beloved Base Commander isn't going to be so soft on us." Joked Chopper.

"But they are taking our military records into question, so they should help show how valuable we are. But still, we all know we're innocent, but they don't, they think were guilty." Added Nagase.

"It's really not that bad, their just going to keep a closer eye on us from now on. Like they'll find anything incriminating… So what's on right now? Anything good?" asked Kevin.

"Just football. Nate Warburton is looking good for New Annapolis." Said Grim.

"He did win the Hiesman last season." Remarked Chopper.

On the tube were analyst Tommy Green, former cornerback Patrick Suggs, and former offensive lineman Joey Grossman. The three were talking about the most impressive rookies in the ONFL. They had just finished talking about Warburton, until Grossman mentioned: "If I can go off topic here for a minute, I want to mention for all the football fans at home about one rookie who isn't in the ONFL right now. I'm talking about Kevin Johnson, the monster running back from the Air Force Academy. He played four seasons in college, playing in every game, and he brought that team back on the football map. He set career records in rushing yards and attempts at the Academy and lead the Knights to victory in last years Diamond Bowl over heavily favored Jefferson University. And also finished third in the voting for the Hiesman Trophy behind Nate Warburton and Clyde Hicks. In this year's draft, experts had him going somewhere in the first five picks and could have made millions of dollars. And he turned all that down to serve in the air force and fight in the front lines with our other soldiers in this war. That to me is true courage and patriotism and if he is watching this or if anyone in the service is watching this, Kevin Johnson I salute you for your bravery and your sacrifice."

"Very nice Joe and so true. Kevin Johnson turning down millions to play football for a jet and a government check. I don't think many people would make that choice if it was given to them. But still, everyone her at Sports Talk salute you and wish you to come home safely." Added Tommy Green.

A commercial then followed with erupting laughter from Chopper who was grabbing his sides. "Wooo! Oh man. Wouldn't they like to know what you've really been doing for the past few weeks? I'm sorry kid, but I got to laugh. By the way they were talking about you, I'd think you just died." Laughed Chopper.

Kei and grim also formed smiles on their faces. It just seemed funny to them too. It felt good to laugh. To forget about how tired they were and the past couple of events that occurred over the last 28 hours.

"You really turned down all that cash to work in this high risk job where your yelled at all the time?" Asked Nagase.

Again with a smirk Kevin answered, "Yeah! What was I getting myself into here? Who really cares if I'm here?"

"A lot of people are glad you're here." Answered Kei.

How true would that statement be as the war would escalate to a height that could threaten the entire world.


End file.
